The Fantasmic Chronicles: Compass Rose
by KalliBear13
Summary: This idea came to me after reading the Kingdom Keepers Series. I hope you like it. Seven kids are transported to another world where everything Disney is real, they must go on a quest to find keys to open the gateway to get back to Earth while avoiding the wrath of the Disney Villains who also want to cross over to Earth.


**_Prologue_**

The music became lost over the sound of a woman's malicious laughter.

"Everyone hang on!" Carter yelled.

They felt the car speed up through the final stretch and were instantly blinded by a flash. The car was jettisoned from the tracks and went screeching, sparks flew as the speed was met with solid ground. The car turned and tipped over, skidding a few more feet before coming to a stop.

A startled voice sounded from somewhere in the dark. The only light in the room was limited to a flashing red light. Even with the blinking light they were still essentially blind. Ayden was the first to notice that his seatbelt had been released. He lifted it over his head and stumbled from his seat.

"Ow...," he groaned, "is everyone okay?" He shuffled forward on his hands and knees to try and help Raven and William from their seats.

"What happened?" Raven asked in a shaky voice.

"Isn't it obvious? OOF!" Said William as he fell out of his seat onto the floor, "we crashed."

"Nooo, really?" Ben said sarcastically, "I thought that was a new unloading method Disney wanted to try-woah!" He too fell out of his seat and onto Carter who had exited the car with the most grace.

"Get off me!" Carter snapped.

"Riley are you okay?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah I think so."

"Can someone help Riley down."

"I got it," said Carter blindly moving towards them and helping Riley down. Katherine slid out of her seat. They fumbled around for their cell phones and tuned on the flashlights. They didn't see anything in the little light they had.

"Does anyone have service? Maybe we can call someone?" Raven suggested. None of them did.

"Try 9-1-1," Carter said. Even that didn't work. They heard a loud bang as someone was trying to enter their location. They couldn't explain why but it was something in the aggressive tone of the banging that made them all panic and frantically fumble to turn off the lights on their devices. No sooner had they turned off their flashlights when bright lights came on in the room and blinded all of them briefly. When their eyes came into focus they didn't believe what they saw.

"Stay where you are and don't move!" An authoritarian voice came out.

They were surrounded by people in blue and green body suits and they all were pointing their right fists at them with their left hand expertly placed over their forearms.

A familiar tall figure stepped out from the ranks and demanded, "State your name and business."

"No way," Ben said in awe.

The man pushed a red button on his chest and reported, "Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, Come in Star Command."

 ** _Chapter 1: Three Hours Earlier_**

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, due to winds at higher elevations our firework spectacular 'Remember...Dreams Come True' has been cancelled. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused you and we hope you enjoy the rest of your evening here at Disneyland," the announcement said in its smooth voice. A groan from the crowd echoed throughout Main Street USA as people started to move.

The early October air felt sticky and humid and smelled of must, popcorn and sunscreen. It was a particularly crowded Sunday evening, in the event it was 'Gay Days' that weekend at the resort. People moved like a slow cattle herd down Main Street with some of them ducking into shops, trying to get their last-minute shopping in before the park's closing. Eager, tired parents guided their children to the exit, so they can get back to their hotel rooms and go to sleep. Children were crying not wanting to leave the magic kingdom. Teenagers stood in the middle of the street blocking the flow of traffic, trying in vain to get a perfect picture of the glowing castle. People who had to maneuver around them grumbled and complained. The lights along Main Street shops shone brilliantly and the music from UP played in a lighthearted melody.

Katherine and Riley were standing in the spot they had been saving for hours in front of the castle in order to have a good view of the parade and fireworks. The parade had been absolutely magical, with all of it's sparkling lights. Riley looked up at her sister and asked,

"Since the fireworks are cancelled, can we do one more ride before going home?"

Katherine had promised her sister that the last thing they would do before they left the park would be to watch the fireworks, but since they were canceled it seemed unfair that the last thing she would have done was wait for a show that didn't even happen. Although she was tired from being at the park all day, something about Disneyland made you just want to make a child's day end with magic.

"Sure, which ride?" Katherine asked.

"Space Mountain!" Riley exclaimed excitedly.

"Okay then we better get moving, 'cause I have a feeling that you chose that ride because you know it will have the longest wait time." Katherine said while checking her app and stifled a groan sourcing from her aching feet as it read back "1:25 min." Looping their arms into their backpack straps they began to make their way towards Tomorrowland

A chime sounded before a woman's voice announced, "We do hope you enjoyed your tour of Endor and will come back soon. Now please remain seated until the captain opens the exit doors. You may then unlatch your safety restraints by pressing the release button on your left. Oh, and do make sure you have your personal belongings. Thank you. Goodbye!"

Raven shifted in her seat to unbuckle her seatbelt then leaning forward pulling her stockings back up to her knees; for they had slid down into her boots during their tour. She fluffed her black hair, stood up and smoothed out her dress. A boy with fiery red hair, sporting cargo shorts who had been sitting next to her, handed Raven her bag. They headed down the walkway into the gift shop. He untied the red flannel shirt from his waist and weaved his arms into the sleeves.

"That was the first time I ever got caught in the asteroid field with Jengo Fett," he said in a mildly nasal voice with a slight lisp on his S's.

"I think it was actually Boba Fett, Ayden," said another boy with sandy blonde hair and square framed glasses.

"No way," argued Ayden, "in Star Wars episode II, Jengo Fett is battling Obewan Kenobee in an asteroid field."

"Yes," retorted William as he readjusted his glasses onto his face, "but in the same film he was decapitated while Boba Fett grew up to become his own bounty hunter, who made deals with the Empire. If you recall from episode V, when he was working with Darth Vader to trap Han Solo and Princess Leia-although the trap really was for Luke-Boba was only in on it to get the bounty on Solo's head placed there by Jaba the Hutt," They argued while walking through the gift shop full of Star Wars memorabilia.

"Raven," Ayden said exasperatedly looking for support. While the two had been debating Raven was looking up on her phone who was right.

"Sorry Ayden," she said in a not-so-sorry voice, "but the know-it-all is right."

"What! Let me see!" He lunged for her phone and read the article in frustration then said annoyedly, "Whatever."

Raven seized the moment to try and make peace, "C'mon guys, let's head over to Space Mountain, the wait is at like 2 hours and I have this thing where I have to be on the last ride of it at the end of the day."

Ayden brightened up at this and they started to head out of the crowded shop. Raven noticed William was still standing there awkwardly, "Will…are you coming?" He then nodded and followed.

"Why do you have to ride a he last ride of Space Mountain?" He asked.

"Because the first time my dad brought me here that's what happened, and it just put a perfect end to the day. So ever since then, even when he is overseas, I catch the last ride and send the picture to him."

"Couldn't you ride it at any time of the day and send him the picture from that ride? Because it's not like he would know since the area is indoors and-"

"Because I'll know Will," Raven interrupted unable to keep the mild tone of annoyance from her voice. Raven and Ayden tried their best to be patient with William because they knew it wasn't really his fault that he was socially awkward. It also didn't help that many people in their community theater group would explode at him, completely dismissing the fact that he is autistic.

They reached the entrance to the ride following behind two girls who looked like they could be sisters. The man at the line entrance clicked the rope to close off the que. Even though the park was still a couple of hours from closing they needed to close off the ride to ensure that people are filtered through it by 12:00, closing time.

As they stood there waiting Raven reached into her studded bag and took out three fruit snacks. Distributing them out, she then looked at Ayden and said, "One."

Understanding what she intended he nodded and continued, "Two."

William happily pipped in, "Three."

"Four," said Raven.

"Fizz," Ayden said.

"Six," William went on.

"Buzz," Raven said through sticky teeth.

"What are you doing?" Asked the little girl in front of them. She was young, about 10 years old with long curly brown hair and curious green eyes.

"Riley," her sister whispered to her in a disapproving voice. She had short curly blonde hair, a curvy figure and that same green-eyed gaze.

"It's okay," Ayden said to the older sister. Then looking back at Riley, he said, "we are playing 'FizzBuzz'."

"FizzBuzz?" Riley said in a curious voice.

"It's a game that we play in our theater group. Every multiple of 5 you say 'fizz' and every multiple of 7 you say 'buzz'. And if you come to a multiple that is both, like 35, you say 'FizzBuzz.' It's harder than it looks because you have to be fast, if you wait too long to continue you have to start over and if you miss speak you also have to start over," He left out the part that they were playing it to calm down William when he started to get anxious, "Wanna play?"

"Uhm," Riley said looking up at her sister for approval. When she nodded she said, "Okay?"

"It really is more fun and challenging with more people, right William?" Raven added. William fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt, avoiding to look at the two girls, then nodded. She then encouraged, "Alright then, you can start this round Will."

And so he did, growing more comfortable with the strangers as the game continued and the line moved forward. It took Riley and Katherine a few rounds to really get the hang of the game and even Raven and Ayden, who already knew the game well, miss spoke and they would have to start over. Two other boys who had been in front of them joined in the game as well. They laughed as the time ticked away and they got closer to boarding the ride.

The room was an array of controlled chaos. Buzz Lightyear encouraged guests to, "Blast him with everything you've got!"

'Him' being the Evil Emperor Zurg, who was crying out in a deep robotic voice, "Impossible! No one can aim with such accuracy!" The music from Toy Story that played in the background was almost indiscernible over the blaster sounds and the ping-pong machine noises that were made every time a target was hit.

The ride was currently stopped in the last room, so naturally people were relentlessly firing at targets to boost their scores. Carter and Ben were firing while wrestling over the joystick to turn the vehicle and mess up each other's aim and accuracy. The ride began to move again and continued out to the exit. Their blasters became deactivated and their levels and scores flashed in red before them. L4: 109,321 flashed to Carter, and L6: 671,213 read back to Ben.

"I am the master commander!" Ben exclaimed as he threw both of his fists into the air in triumph. Ben was a tall, thin, shaggy looking boy with unkempt blonde hair that poked out beneath his purple beanie.

"Yeah, well you cheated," replied Carter in a joking tone as he stepped off the ride.

"It's not cheating, it's using your assets, mine being all the training I put in at home. Y'know working out, lifting weights, the usual."

"The usual my left foot!"

Ben laughed at his friend calling his bluff, "Yeah, your right I just know where the good targets are," they made their way out of the gift shop and veered left off to the side, "should we do one more before leaving?"

Carter looked down at his watch, "Yeah...I think we can fit in one more, I don't wanna be too tired for classes tomorrow."

"What Classes?"

"Thermal Dynamics and Anatomy."

"Okay I understand why you need to take thermal dynamics for a fire science major, but why anatomy?"

"Because we don't just put out fires, we are also usually the first responders on scene when someone calls 911 and because of that we need to have a basic understanding of the human body."

"For…?"

"Health Reasons," said Carter knowing that he could try and explain it further but also knowing that Ben didn't really care.

As they talked they made their way to the line entrance for Space Mountain. The wait minute counter read '125 min.' Ben looked at Carter, "would you rather do something else?"

"Nah, this is fine," Carter replied. He knew this was Ben's favorite ride. Along with all the other Tomorrowland attractions, but Carter enjoyed the ride too. They reached the end of the line and began the waiting game. More people followed behind them and began to play the waiting game too. They waited for a while and then became interested in a different game that the group behind them started playing. It looked more fun than the waiting game, so Carter and Ben asked if they could play too. It involved multiples of 5 and 7 and they played it for an hour before deciding to quit while they were ahead; for they had gotten to 105 with no mess-ups. When they did decide to stop Ayden asked to Carter,

"you look really familiar, what school do you go to?"

"Fullerton College."

"Ha! I thought so, did we take an English Class together last semester?"

"Yeah I remember! You were the one who showed up late every day!"

"If you schedule a mandatory GE Class at eight-o clock in the morning you can expect for students to be late."

"If you didn't wanna take a morning class then you should have registered sooner or picked a different time."

"It was the only open class to work with my other course Times."

"You weren't taking any other courses those days! You got that class because you waited until the last minute to sign up for classes," Raven chastised at Ayden.

"Shut Up Raven, I'm winning!" Ayden said.

"Now that makes sense as to why you look familiar to him, but why do you both look familiar to me?" Asked William.

"Well he graduated from Loara High School," chimed in Ben, "I'm a freshman there this year."

"Kat goes there too, she's a senior this year," said Riley.

"Well how come I don't recognize you then when we are in the same grade?" Will continued.

Katherine shrugged, "probably because we don't have any classes together."

"No, but you and I do," Raven commented.

"I thought I recognized you, sorry, which class again?"

"Book club."

"Book club isn't a class," Katherine said a little confused.

"It is to me...I'm only doing it for extra credit for English."

"Oh, who's your teacher?"

"Springer."

Ayden, Carter, Katherine and William all gave a knowing "Ah" at this and Raven nodded.

"What's wrong with Springer?" Ben asked.

"She gives a ton of homework as if she was the only class you had all year and has pop quizzes, like, all the time," Ayden informed.

"Not to mention all the work she expects you to do outside of class and- "

"Say no more, I get the picture," Ben said cutting off Katherine in mid-sentence.

"Wait, we all go or went to Loara High? That's kinda a weird coincidence," Carter remarked.

"Small world," said Raven.

"I go to Palm Lane School," Riley piped in wanting to be a part of the conversation too.

Carter reached into his backpack and pulled out a bag of suckers.

"You guys want one?" He offered them to everyone starting with Riley. She took a bumble-gum flavored one after Katherine took a Root-beer one for herself. "So Riley," Carter continued, "what's your favorite Disney movie?" He passed around the bag as everyone took a different flavor of the lollypops. "I like Peter Pan," she said smiling up into friendly face.

"Really?" Said William pausing from his orange pop, "I would have thought your favorite to be The Little Mermaid because of your shirt."

"She's my favorite princess."

Raven licked her sucker and interjected, "mine is The Princess and the Frog. But my favorite princess is Jasmine."

"Nightmare Before Christmas," blurted Ben before choking on the excess saliva in his mouth from the candy.

"It would have to be Hercules for me," said Carter as he slapped Ben's back.

"The Lion King hands down," Ayden said not looking up as he shuffled through the bag of candy looking for another flavor.

"For me it would have to be Atlantis the Lost Empire, because I thoroughly enjoy the science in it." Informed William as he finished his lolly.

"What about you Katherine?" Carter inquired smiling at her. She felt her cheeks grow hot as she met his brown eyed gaze.

She remembered seeing him years before when she was a freshman. He was a senior at the time and she had found his chiseled features really attractive. Back then his auburn hair had been long but now that he was older he had cut it short and Katherine found this to make him look even more attractive. The memory of that crush made her stomach dance with butterflies, but she didn't want it to be obvious. Not that she stalked him or anything, but she saw him from a distance at the store the other day and decided to look him up on social media to see what he has been up to. She unfortunately learned that he now has a girlfriend, so she knew that she shouldn't read into anything he says and go getting her hopes up. But on the plus side because she didn't have to worry about reading the signs she was able to be friendly without feeling awkward and nervous. She waved her hand and said in a casually playful tone, "that's a really hard question, 'cause there are so many good ones...agh I guess right now it would be Alice in Wonderland."

They hadn't realized that the line wait had actually been longer than two hours. If a group came up behind them, they allowed them to go ahead; because of Raven's thing about being on the last ride of the day. But they had enjoyed playing FizzBuzz and talking that the time had flown by and they were now near the boarding zone. William checked his watch and looked surprised, "wow, doesn't feel like its midnight already."

They grew more excited as people were loaded and unloaded from the cars and they came closer and closer to boarding the ride themselves. A short, stout blonde haired woman, whose nametag read 'Rhoda,' approached them asked, "How many?"

"Seven," Ayden answered, the others looked at him, "What? We are the last ones in line, so we might as well ride it together." They saw his point and nodded.

"Okay we'll have two on 1, two on 2, two on 3 and 1 on 4," she said as she motioned them to the lines. Riley and Katherine moved to row one, with Ben and Carter in Row two and Raven and William in row three. Ayden sat in the first row of the car behind them just as the group was unloading from the car they would be boarding. From across the track they could see a girl and two boys come up from the exit and showing a cast member something.

"It must be a Return later pass," William informed, "they give them to people who had fast passes for a ride if the ride breaks down."

As the group boarded the space car from the left the other three boarded from the right in the last two rows. Rhoda started from the front of the car to check their seatbelts asking them to push up on the restrains. When she had confirmed that they were all safely locked in, they proceeded onto the ride. The music played loudly in their ears as the countdown began. As they reached the top of the ride the guitar surged, and they began the descent through the sharp turns and sudden drops of the mountain.

It wasn't long before Carter and Ben noticed that the ride was going much faster than it usually did, having ridden it countless times before; in all its variations. They looked at each other to confirm what they were both thinking; that something wasn't right. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of green lightning. It wasn't long after that the others began to sense that something was wrong too because their screams of delight changed to screams of terror when more green lightning streaked passed them.

The music became lost over the sound of a woman's malicious laughter. "Everyone hang on!" Carter yelled. They felt the car speed up through the final stretch and were instantly blinded by a flash. The car was jettisoned from the tracks and went screeching, sparks flew as the speed was met with solid ground. The car turned and tipped over, skidding a few more feet before coming to a stop.

A startled voice sounded from somewhere in the dark. The only light in the room was limited to a flashing red light. Even with the blinking light they were still essentially blind. Ayden was the first to notice that his seatbelt had been released. He lifted it over his head and stumbled from his seat.

"Ow...," he groaned, "is everyone okay?" He shuffled forward on his hands and knees to try and help Raven and William from their seats.

"What happened?" Raven asked in a shaky voice.

"Isn't it obvious? OOF!" Said William as he fell out of his seat onto the floor, "we crashed."

"Nooo, really?" Ben said sarcastically, "I thought that was a new unloading method Disney wanted to try-woah!" He too fell out of his seat and onto Carter who had exited the car with the most grace.

"Get off me!" Carter snapped.

"Riley are you okay?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah I think so."

"Can someone help Riley down."

"I got it," said Carter blindly moving towards them and helping Riley down. Katherine slid out of her seat. They fumbled around for their cell phones and tuned on the flashlights. They didn't see anything in the little light they had.

"Does anyone have service? Maybe we can call someone?" Raven suggested. None of them did.

"Try 9-1-1," Carter said. Even that didn't work. They heard a loud bang as someone was trying to enter their location. They couldn't explain why but it was something in the aggressive tone of the banging that made them all panic and frantically make to turn off the lights on their devices. No sooner had they turned off their flashlights when bright lights came on in the room they were in and blinded all of them briefly. When their eyes came into focus they didn't believe what they saw.

"Stay where you are and don't move!" An authoritarian voice came out.

They were surrounded by people in blue and green body suits and they all were pointing their right fists at them with their left hand expertly placed over their forearms.

A familiar tall figure stepped out from the ranks and demanded, "State your name and business."

"No way," Ben said in awe.

The man pushed a red button on his chest and reported, "Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, Come in Star Command."

 ** _Chapter 2: The Crossover_**

A static frequency sounded before a voice answered, "Star Command to Buzz, We read you Buzz."

"We have apprehended several hoodlums who have broken in and vandalized the Mountain Space Observatory and Planetarium. We are taking them into custody now and will question their motives. This is probably the work of the Evil Emperor Zurg."

"Copy that. We'll have detainment cells prepared for them upon your squadrons arrival."

"Professor Von Drake your safe to come out now," Buzz said addressing the corner of the room.

They all gaped in disbelief as a duck in a white coat and brown sweater vest came out from behind an electric mega-board. The group had seen him before in the cartoons of their childhood, but this was no cartoon. He was much larger than a normal duck, at least three and a half feet tall, and his wings hung at his side like arms with five distinct feathers at the tips for his hands.

"You were right to trigger the silent alarm and call us when you did." Buzz said, clapping the duck on the shoulder.

"You're seeing this too right?" Ayden whispered to William.

"Indeed, although 1 in 20 people can experience the same hallucination."

"No chit-chat!" Buzz barked "Booster! Mira! Cuff them and put them in the space cruiser. XR run a scan on their ship."

The other rangers behind him moved forewords, pulling handcuffs from within their space suits. A thin blue skinned woman with red hair and a large red alien that looked like a hybrid of a cat and a frog approached them as they huddled together on the ground.

In an instant they all went from being startled speechless to historical babbling, "What is this? What's going on? Where are we? Is this some kind of prank? Cause if it is it's not funny!"

"Quiet!" Bellowed the blue alien woman called Mira, apprehension in her gaze as she surveyed the group, "Buzz, are you sure these are minions of Zurg? They're just kids."

"It's possibly a new tactic to catch us off guard," Buzz said with certainty.

"Ah…Buzz," said the little robot called XR, "you should come take a look at my readings for this space craft."

"What is it XR?" Buzz asked moving over to stand next to the 4ft tall robot with a suspended golden head inside of a glass dome.

"This space craft, it has no means of control with the exception of a safety feature. And if you look at this back part here, it is cut clean off part way through the back of the last seat here."

"Are you telling me that I was almost cut down and barbecued!?" Exclaimed Ayden.

Ignoring him XR continued, "and this is not like anything that's from here. The only other record I can find of this type of space craft is in the Mountain Space Archives." Pushing some buttons on his arm, he projected the record for Buzz to see.

"Booster," Buzz called, "see if they have any identification."

"Look can someone please explain what's going on here?" Katherine asked as she produced her driver's license along with the others.

William and Ben who didn't have drivers liscences gave Booster their student ID's. Only Riley didn't have anything to provide. Booster collected them and handed them over to Buzz.

Booster inquired, "Well? What do you make of it Buzz?"

Pausing for a long moment while studying their ID's he finally said, "this kind of intrusion goes far beyond what we handle here at Star Command."

"So…should we involve the Jedi?" Mira asked.

"If I may," Professor Von Drake said in an Austrian accent. Looking at the Star Command officers hard for a moment before he continued, "but this seems like something far greater than any law enforcement in Tomorrowland or anywhere in Fantasmic, for that matter, to handle."

Looking at each other than to Buzz, he pushed the communication button on his chest again and said, "Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, send for a monorail transportation unit to our location."

"Monorail will be there in 5 min," The voice responded.

"We will escort you," Buzz informed.

"Calling space ranger squad B," A different gruff voice sounded from all their space suits.

"We read you Commander Zeb."

"There is another distress call from sector 4A. We need you to report there pronto."

"Looks like you will have to escort these kids Professor," Buzz said now addressing Von Drake, "Squad B prepare for departure." They pushed another button on their breastplates and jet pack wings expanded from their backs. "Too infinity and beyond!" Buzz cried before they took off out the door as the kids followed to watch them fly away.

"He really says it," Riley whispered excitedly.

The monorail arrived right on time directly outside the Mountain Space Observatory and Planetarium entrance doors. Gathering their things from the wreckage, the group boarded the monorail, having little choice in anything else they could do at the moment, with Professor Ludwig Von Drake accompanying them.

They would have been rudely staring at him if they weren't currently mesmerized by the view out the window. Outside was not a view of the Disneyland theme park but the view looked like a city-wide scale of the Tomorrowland that Walt Disney had envisioned. The giant globe of Spaceship Earth from Epcot towered over irridecent white and silver chrome buildings that glittered in various colored lights in the night. Rocket rods flew through the air past them. Ben even swore he saw Iron Man flying in the distance to the Avengers Tower. Below on the platinum ground rode Tron light bikes that left a stream of electricity behind them. And crystal towers stood proudly with the vague but distinct glow of lightsabers.

"This looks like a combination of the movie Tomorrowland and Nova from Guardians of the Galaxy!" An awestruck William admired with his nose pressed to the glass.

"So, Uhm...Professor?" Raven asked timidly.

"Yes?" he answered as he cleaned off his glasses.

"What is this place?"

"Well that seems like a rather silly question, this is Tomorrowland."

"I gathered that much, but where is Tomorrowland exactly?"

"Why in the world of Fantasmic of course. Don't worry all of this will be explained in due time," he said she gave him a confused look.

The monorail continued on a golden track that appeared just before the monorail occupied that space and disappeared after the monorail had moved on. They couldn't stop watching the scenery outside gradually become fields. Raven and Katherine fumbled with shaky hands to their bags and extracted what they were frantically looking for. Katherine pulled out her phone and began taking pictures like crazy cursing herself for not taking pictures sooner and the fact that she wasn't sure she had enough storage on her phone for all the photos she wanted to take. Raven pulled out a sketchpad and some pencils and immediately let her hand glide over the pages of her book as she sought to capture the feathery figure of Professor Von Drake. Chitter chattering away in excitement and wonder at the changing of their scenery and the impossibility of their situation. They had not left the edge of Tomorrowland long before the monorail they were riding glowed and changed. They could hear the smooth whooshwhosh of the track manifest into the familiar clickity-clack of a train. The cars they sat in went from a slick futuristic one to a vintage train car. Their seats went from leather to wood and the windows from a seamless glass into square framed ones that lined the car. Riley's curiosity burst from her as she asked,

"What's happening?"

"We are merely crossing the border," Von Drake said lazily.

"What border?"

"The border between Tomorrowland and Main Street."

The landscape around them evolved from fields into roads with vintage cars and buildings stylized in a 1920s fashion. Normally in the Disney theme parks the use of a method called forced perspective, where they make buildings seem taller than they really are, but this was not the case here. Because here, they could clearly see that everything was to scale. They became glued to the windows all over again to try and soak up the scenery they were passing.

Dapper Dans were singing in the street, children were playing with hoops and sticks, Lady and the Tramp were walking through the street behind their pups. Their eyes were so locked to the scene that they didn't even notice that the train came into the Main Street station.

"Come, come, we have got places to be," Von Drake quipped shooing them off the train. Leading them down the steps of the station where a horse drawn streetcar waited for them.

"Hello, hello, hello!" Said the driver in a very bad British accent.

"Good evening Bert," Von Drake greeted him, "Driving streetcars today I see."

"Indeed, I am!" the horse in front who wore a straw hat gave a very distinct ahem.

"Yes, hello to you too Cyril," Von Drake said acknowledging the horse.

"Right'O there guv'nor!," Cyril responded.

"Yes, yes," Von Drake said getting to the point, "Well we need to get to the big man's residence, this requires his special attention."

"The boss man's place you got it."

They boarded the horse drawn street car and looked out the windows admiring the sights. All down the street white lights glittered lighting up the now dark street brightly. Captain America and Peggy Carter walked into the Main Street Cinema that read 'Now Showing: The Incredibles 2, Steamboat Willie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Coming Soon: "Avengers: Infinity War pt2, Frozen 2, Aladdin."

A motor car went whizzing past them with Mr. Toad in the driver's seat crying, "Tally-Ho!" Abraham Lincoln walked into a hat shop near a sign with an arrow that pointed right reading "Liberty Square 5miles". People wearing 1920s clothing drove cars and walked on the street.

"Professor who are these people?" Katherine asked.

"Hm? Local residents who live in the area, not everyone who lives here is a well-known character my dear."

"So, they are like the background characters in movies?"

"Precisely, only here they have names, jobs, families and other such things."

"Who are you taking us to then?" Carter asked.

"The one that started it all."

"Snow White?" Raven whispered looking at the others.

"No... who came out before Snow White?" Ayden said in an all-knowing voice. When realization came to their faces he nodded and answered, "let us not lose sight that it was all started by a mouse."

Von Drake chuckled to himself as they came to a stop in-front of a grand house with neat red bricks, a white and gold trim around the frames and the Disney family crest on the weathervane.

Getting out of the car Von Drake turned to Bert and said, "I will be needing a ride back to the train station so if you would please wait for me here."

"All right there, Governor!"

Following behind Von Drake they made their way up to the grand building and he knocked on the Mickey Mouse eared door knocker. From inside they could hear Pluto's barking then the door opened and there he stood. A real, adorable, three-and-a-half-foot mouse with red trousers and a smile from ear to ear.

In a high-pitched voice, he greeted, "Well hi there folks, why don't you come on inside and I'll have Minnie get us some refreshments."

They entered the house, it was cozy and welcoming compared to the intimidating grandeur of the outside. A slender gold bloodhound with black ears bounded up to them and wagged his tail happily jumping up on each of them to lick their faces.

"C'mon Pluto, down boy" Mickey said, "If you would just follow me."

Walking past a staircase and down the hall they entered a sitting room with a fireplace and plenty of seating. In the room sat a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She wore a white blouse, had curly brown hair, and wore a surprised yet welcoming smile. At her feet lay a chow chow dog who made to get up and greet the newcomers but the woman had patted him into laying back down.

"Take a seat anywhere," Mickey encouraged.

No sooner had they sat down when another mouse with a red skirt and a hat with a flower entered carrying a tray with cups of lemonade and Madeline cookies,

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting," she said in a cheery voice, "I wanted to make the drinks fresh though."

They took the glasses and cookies and couldn't help but stare at the two celebrities in front of them.

"He should be here any minute, so if you just sit tight," Mickey beamed.

"Who should be here? Aren't we here to see you?" Carter asked.

A loud cough came from the hallway before a man answered, "No young man, your here to see me."

Their mouths dropped open, a couple of them choked on the cookies and some sputtered-on lemonade. They looked up into the young face of a man in a white button-down shirt and grey slacks, with a glint of childlike wonder in his dark eyes. Standing in the doorway was Walt Disney himself.

 ** _Chapter 3: Breakfast with the Disney's_**

They stared at the man before them as he casually brushed off his jacket and hung it on a coat rack. There was no doubt, that this man was Walt Disney. Before addressing them again, he moved towards the woman sitting in the chair and gave a kiss to his wife Lillian. They were so transfixed on him that they didn't notice another man enter the room.

"Well they all look like they've seen a ghost," said the cheery voice of Roy Disney. He also took off his jacket, but before he could hang it up a rabbit with teal shorts happily took it from him, "oh thank you Oswald."

Moving towards the tray that Minnie had left on the table, he poured himself a glass of lemonade and took a cookie. Walt then took the opportunity to speak,

"I'm sure you all have a lot of questions and I'll be happy to explain, but that can wait until you have had a good night's sleep, I'll have Mickey take the boys to your room and Minnie take the girls to theirs. Oswald and Ortensia wake you in the morning for breakfast." His words were kind but final and they didn't argue. As they were leaving the room they could hear Walt say, "Von Drake I'm glad you called, so how about you fill me in."

Minnie and Mickey let the group to their rooms. Minnie led the girls to a room that had three beds and a large window, with an enchanted view to show a beach in the twilight evening. Mickey led the boys to a room with four beds and a window with a view of snowcapped mountains. On each of their beds was a set of flannel pajamas, that when each of them picked up their set, they magically adjusted to be the perfect size. They changed and didn't lay in their cozy beds for long as a soft yet soothing melody of "Feed the Birds" lulled them into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning the girls were awoken by the soft voice of a three foot black cat wearing a pink skirt and hat. Ortensia spoke in a soft voice as she said,

"Time to wake up," Riley rolled over and sat herself up. She usually was groggy upon first waking up but right now she felt completely rested and woke up with a smile. Before her she saw Ortensia smiling warmly at her before saying, "Breakfast will be ready in an hour. This gives you all plenty of time to get yourselves together, Mr. and Mrs. Disney made sure to have your clothes laundered."

She gestured to their folded clothes in neat piles on the ottoman. Raven instinctively looked at her phone and noticed her battery life read back 100%.

"Huh that's weird," she said to herself before shrugging it off as she rolled out of bed to get dressed.

Oswald woke up the boys across the hall and relayed the same information in regard to breakfast and their clothes. He then looked at Ben and said in a mildly nasal voice,

"Mr. Disney would like you to get a haircut before breakfast, so if you will get ready quickly, I'll escort you to the barber shop just up the road."

"Why me?" Ben complained, "I don't wanna get a haircut."

"Better do as the rabbit says Ben. Mr. Disney doesn't seem like someone you should ignore." Carter remarked.

Grumbling Ben pulled on his clothes and followed Oswald.

The rest of them took their time to shower and get ready. There had been soap and toothbrushes provided for them in their bathrooms. Once they were finished they followed Ortensia downstairs into the kitchen where a magnificent breakfast was waiting for them. Penguins wearing bow ties were finishing setting up the table with plates and napkins. Stretched across the table was an array of steaming waffles, buttered pancakes, sizzling sausages, crispy bacon, eggs of every preparation from sunny side up to hard-boiled, perfectly ripe fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, hot coffee and all other sorts of breakfast items greeted their eyes. Ben and Oswald entered through another door, Ben's shaggy mop, was now cut and combed nicely. Walt, Lillian, Roy and two girls, who looked to be between Riley and Raven's age, sat at the far end of the table.

"Good morning," Lillian greeted them, "take a seat anywhere and help yourselves to whatever you like. Ortensia, Oswald will you two be joining us?"

"Oh, thank you for the invitation, but we better skedaddle, Clarabelle is watching the kids for us," Oswald said putting an arm around Ortensia's shoulder.

"Alright Thank you."

As Oswald and Ortensia left they took seats in the remaining chairs and helped themselves to the breakfast feast. Ayden took a bite of a donut and cried out,

"I have been living a lie!"

"What?" William said startled.

"I've lived my life believing that Krispy Kreme had the best donuts ever...but these! These make my life complete!" He took another grateful bite and made a face like he was in heaven.

"You're a strange one aren't you?" Carter said.

"Just make sure you each have a piece of fruit with breakfast too," Lillian said in a motherly tone.

"Yes ma'am," they all said in broken unison.

"There is cherry filling in this, does that count?" Ayden asked with his mouth full. When he was responded with a raise eyebrowed look from Lillian and Walt, who he had stopped midway buttering his toast, Ayden swallowed hard then mumbled, "yes ma'am."

When they had finished the penguins came in to clear away the dirty dishes and the leftovers. The two girls, who while eating they had realized were Sharon and Diane Disney, got up and kissed Walt and Lillian on the cheeks before heading out,

"Come on Figaro," called Sharon.

"Come on Pluto," called Diane. From under the table popped out Pluto and a slender black and white cat, who scampered after the two girls. Wiping his mouth with a napkin Walt stood up, kissed his wife then said,

"If your all ready, we'll head down to the workshop, Mickey will meet us there, he had to go pick someone up for me. Roy if you can drive one car with us, I'll meet you down at the office afterwards."

They followed him and Roy out the front door where on the sidewalk waited two DeSoto cars. They piled into the two cars and drove in awe filled wonder as they headed down Main Street again.

Yesterday they had seen it in the evening, now that they were seeing it in the morning light there was new stuff to see. Mary Poppins walked with Jane and Michael into an ice cream parlor. Pongo and Perdita were playing in the park with their pups and other children. They drove past Toad Hall where Mole and Rat were walking up the path to the fancy residence. Young teens ran into a building labeled "Penny Arcade." A band played the distinct tune of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Everywhere they looked everything was pristine and full of life and color. Even a window with a flower pot had as much life as a bustling street full of people.

They arrived and parked in-front of the "Partners Statue" in a large hub. It looked similar to the central plaza in the theme parks that led to the different distinct lands in the park, but there were no banner signs that told you when you entered a certain area. Instead there were shops, currency conversion kiosks and transportation stalls where you could get things that you needed before entering that particular area. In front of the Tomorrowland shimmering metallic road there was an array of different space jumpsuits, clothing that could be worn by characters in Star Wars, blaster weapons, rent a rocket rod, or book your stay at the Nova Auberge. Compared to in front of the Frontierland dusty trail there were stalls with horses, saddles, maps, hats, wagons and revolvers waited for travelers to shop.

They got out of the cars and Walt waved to Roy before he drove away. Following Walt to the statue he explained,

"this is where I have my special workshop. Only the mouse and I can access it." In front of him where a dedication plaque sat, he took out a gold and black fountain pen and signed his signature and a "+7"at the bottom. The plaque glowed, and a staircase fell into the ground in a circular fashion around the statue.

They followed single file down the steps, behind Walt and as the last of them began to descend the ceiling began to reform as the ground they had just been standing on, as it did Raven began to panic,

"Wait a minute I'm not comfortable with this! I get super claustrophobic!"

"Don't worry we'll be coming to an opening down here, just a bit further," Walt called back.

The corridor was lit by stars on the ceiling that looked too beautiful to be real. When they reached the bottom of the stairs Mickey and an old man with a long gray beard, cascading blue robes and a stern gaze, were waiting for them.

"Welcome to the Sorcerers Workshop." Walt announced.

 ** _Chapter 4: Fantasmic Brought to Light_**

They stood in a wide circular room with a large map of the world of Fantasmic behind a broad desk in the back of the room. The desk was covered with scrolls and quills in ink bottles. Along the ceiling reflected a starry galaxy that lit up the room with the aid of hovering lanterns that floated near the top. Along the walls were beautifully bound spell books, enchanted gadgets and bobbles, and expertly crafted gold boxes. The stern gazed old man stroked his beard and said in a hard-aged voice,

"So what Mickey says is true...Fantasmic has opened itself again to Earth."

"Who is that?" Riley whispered.

"That's Master Yen Sid from Fantasia's 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'," Katherine whispered to her sister. When Riley had given her a puzzled look that seemed to say, 'you know that?' she explained, "I only know that because he is a character in a video game I like to play."

"If you would like to take a seat, I'll explain everything," Walt said indicating the blue couches that formed a semi-circle in the middle of the room.

They did so quickly and listened with baited breath. Yen Sid waved his hands and conjured a large scroll that as soon as Walt began talking, his memory projected onto the makeshift screen like a movie.

"Back in 1937 when Snow White first came out, people went crazy with love for her. Everyone said this project was my Folly, but I knew it would be a success. After she premiered something strange happened. While I was in my office writing checks to pay back the loans I had taken to create Snow White a sound came from one of the cabinets in my office. I went over to investigate and when I opened the door I was amazed to see it was a gateway to another world. I cautiously entered and was even more amazed to see that this world was inhabited by characters I had created...not only was there Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but Mickey, Minnie...and all the other Silly Symphony characters were there too." He smiled at their fascination of his memory of early Fantasmic, "At the time, it mostly just consisted of places that were in Snow White: like the castle, diamond mine, the cottage. But it also had a river where Mickey was driving a steamboat and a small neighborhood where the other characters like Horace the Horse and Clarabelle Cow lived." He watched the group sitting there transfixed on the movie of his memories, "You see when Snow White premiered something wonderful happened...people truly believed in magic and that's how this all came to be. I afterwards went back to my office and immediately went to get Roy to show him what I had found. But when we came back the portal was gone. It opened again after Pinocchio premiered and this time Roy had crossed with me, along with my old dog Sunnee, only when we came back the world had grown! A German village has sprouted around Snow White's Castle and there was now an ocean where a little island off the coast glowed with the excitement of pleasure." He said as he gestured outward as an image of an island with flashing lights came into view on the screen.

"Pleasure Island!" William exclaimed excitedly.

"Exactly," Walt continued as he began to pace back and forth in front of the screen pausing between sentences before pacing again, "I was inspired to have more added to this world, so we set to work on our next films: Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi," The group watched in fascination as the land expanded and grew with more buildings, landscapes, and characters, "Each time we came back here the world had grown and expanded with new life and color. But then one day the gateway wouldn't open. It stayed closed during the 1940s and didn't open again until 1950."

"Why is that?" Ben asked.

"The war," Katherine said, "it was because of the war the portal wouldn't open."

Walt nodded solemnly, "you see these were hard times and people were so disheartened and hopeless that the doorway couldn't open. But we continued to animate and did our best to keep people's spirits up. We even made a film to show peace between us and South America to try and reduce tensions. It wasn't until the war ended and people started to have hope again that we stood a chance to open the portal once more. After Cinderella the belief in magic resurfaced and the doorway opened repeatedly and liberally. When Roy and I crossed this time, it had expanded immensely since our last visit eight years ago." The scene changed to a park where Walt sat on a bench eating peanuts, "But during those eight years I hadn't stopped thinking about this place, I was in fact thinking of this place while watching my girls ride a merry go round. I though how wonderful it would be for them to visit this world. How wonderful would it be for everyone to visit this world, to meet the characters from these films, to ride a steamboat with Mickey. That's when I started thinking of a theme park where grown-ups and kids can have fun together," He looked up smiling fondly at his memory and before continuing on, "My imagination went wild with possibilities! I drew inspiration from other theme parks I had visited with my girls, and from here as well." Familiar images of Walt walking through the construction site that would eventually become the Magic Kingdom flashed on the screen, "I made frequent visits between what is now Disneyland and here. Once the firehouse apartment I had designed for myself was completed, that's where the portals started opening. Almost as if this world knew that that would be where I would want the doors to start appearing." His smile faded, and his brow furrowed, "It wasn't until after 1959, when I started to realize a flaw in this world that I didn't have to worry about in Disneyland."

"What was it?" Raven asked sitting now at the edge of her seat, hanging on his every word.

"You see while yes, all the heroes, princesses, and animals came to life here...the one thing I didn't consider was the villains coming to life too. For the most part they were satisfied here. But they soon became curious about my world and relished in the idea of crossing over to it," He put his hands into his pockets and began pacing again, "Since the 1964 world fair required a lot of my attention and I was also in the process of working on the Florida project, I had Yen Sid create a key for me to lock the gateway to what we had started calling Fantasmic. We created an additional key which was left with him should there be an emergency in Fantasmic that required them to come and get me. In 1966 I was diagnosed with Lung cancer and could feel myself slipping..."

He paused for a moment as Mickey moved to stand beside him and give him an encouraging smile and added in his squeaky voice,

"I could feel that something was wrong, so I requested to Yen Sid to use the key to cross directly to Walt."

"I refused at first," Yen Sid said in his hard voice, "but when I could see that the connection between Mickey and Walt was true, I knew that he must go to him."

Walt sniffed and said, "Laying in the hospital late after my 65th birthday, Mickey came to me and brought me back here leaving a fake body of myself to pass away a couple of weeks later. The magic that exists in the very fibers of this world keeps me alive."

"That explains why our phones are constantly fully charged too," Raven muttered.

"But you were 65 when you were diagnosed, how is it you're so young?" William asked.

"Fantasmic sustains me based on a significant event in its creation, while I may have been 65 when I left earth I was 27 when I created Mickey."

"I see," Carter breathed, "your wife mirrors the age she was when you created Mickey as well because she helped in his creation." Walt nodded slowly a slight smile was barely distinguishable at the corners of his mouth. "And your daughters..." Carter paused thinking hard.

"The age they were when they were on the merry go round when you dreamed up Disneyland," Katherine all but shouted.

Walt huffed a chuckle. William interjected, "but Lillian Disney didn't die until the late 90s nearly thirty years after you, how did she get here?"

"Well before that happened Yen Sid, designed a way for me to still keep an eye on things from here, my own magic one-way mirror if you will. It's through this I have been able to keep an eye on my company, my family, and even giving a bit of my ideas back out."

"What do you mean give some of your ideas back out?" Riley pipped up.

"I didn't figure out how to do it until 1989. But when I did it was like I would whisper to the person I wanted to influence. For instance, in Hercules when the casting for Hades was happening I told them not to go for the obvious Hades monster voice. During the creation of Tangled I challenged my artists to continue pushing the limits of animation. I also challenged them to evolve the story; by asking them why the witch would keep Rapunzel locked up in a tower. And my personal favorite, I also had them make a return to the 'story book' opening."

"Tangled didn't have a story book in the opening," William protested.

"Neither did Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, or Pocahontas. It's not the actual story book, it's the idea of a story-like beginning to the movie," Raven stated plainly.

Walt bobbed his head and continued to pace slowly back and forth. Looking at his shoes, he went on, "Of course my animators didn't know they were getting a little help from me, it would more or less come to them as a strong feeling."

"How is it Roy, Lillian and your daughters are here though?" Ayden asked.

"Wow…distracted much?" Ben chastised.

Carter jabbed Ben in the ribs, "Ouch!"

Walt gave the two a raised eye-browed look before moving on, "Well in 1971 when Roy was getting ready to leave earth, I had Mickey step in and bring him here with me. Together we have kept an eye on things, and since I planned to bring Lillian and my girls here when they were ready to, I left the doorway open. But in the early 90s I realized how much of a mistake that was." He rubbed his chin and sighed, "You see Maleficent soon caught on that if I can bring people here then she could go over there...she and several other villains came out right on Tom Sawyer's Island and something needed to be done quickly before she started to hurt people. Mickey, and a handful of other characters crossed over and were able to overpower the villains and drive them back here to Fantasmic."

"Fantasmic the nighttime spectacular!" William blurted, "I bet that after that happened the company covered it up by saying it was a preview for an upcoming show they planned to have! And that's why the show has Mickey defeating Maleficent at the end! Because it really happened!"

"After that instance," Walt said loudly, "I knew we had to seal the doorway, but I didn't want to lose Lillian or my girls...so Yen Sid and I designed seven keys which took the form of iconic symbols you may recognize and tasked the seven little men to hide them here in Fantasmic."

"Well it's simple then," Ayden commented, "we just ask one of the Dwarfs where they hid a key and we can get back."

"If It were that simple boy, do you think that the villains would have not done so already?" Yen Sid boomed harshly, "We went to extreme lengths to prevent them from being able to find these keys and cross over. Once the seven dwarfs hid the keys they came back here. Their memories of where they hid the keys were converted into riddles; which were then sent back out into Fantasmic to disguise themselves in the world."

"But then you must've had at least one of the keys, because otherwise how could the rest of your family have gotten here." Carter stated.

"You see, like Earth, Fantasmic is alive...it lives and grows just like all of us. Like a child needing support, as it aged gracefully it became more independent and no longer needed the support of the belief in magic." Carter opened his mouth to re-ask his question, but Walt held up his hand to cut him off, "While, yes, I did have one key waiting to be hidden until my family came here, Fantasmic opens itself to those it feels like it owes something to. My brother helped turn my dream into a reality by being my anchor. Lillian, my inspiration. My daughters the ones who were my motivation to keep moving forward. But they are not the only ones to have been crossed over before death. The ones I have heard called 'The Nine Old Men,' have been bridged over due to Fantasmic opening itself to them. And they won't be the last ones either." He paused for a moment, "Once Diane came here I sent the last key away to be hidden."

"So how are we to get back?" Katherine inquired.

"With the keys," Walt said moving over to the desk and opening a golden wood box from which he produced a single folded piece of parchment," this is one of the riddles that will lead you to one of the keys."

"Well that's great," Ben said standing up enthusiastically, "we'll go and get it and come back here so you can hide it again once we leave, then it all works out." When Walt's face didn't acknowledge his confidence; Ben faltered, "there's more?"

Yen Sid stepped forward, "Like we said, extreme lengths were gone to in order to prevent just anyone from finding and using these keys." Ben sank back down into his seat, "each key will only allow Five to pass through the gate it opens."

"Why only five?" Riley asked.

"One for each of the Disney family," Raven said, "should they ever want to go back and... move on."

"So, if we all want to get back, we will need at least two keys?" Carter asked.

Yen Sid nodded all knowingly and spoke, "But that isn't all, in order for the keys to work they need to be used in the right place that Fantasmic will allow...and that changes all the time."

"Something still doesn't make sense though," Ayden muttered thinking intensely, "if these keys are the only real ways for just anyone to cross and none of us are of significance to the creation of Fantasmic, then how are we here?"

"That is what we do not know..." Yen Sid replied shaking his head. Mickey stepped forward, he looked so different to them now. Instead of just seeing an iconic franchise character he now looked like a hero to them, "can you tell us anything about your cross over?"

"Well we were on Space Mountain in Disneyland..." Riley began.

"And it was the last ride of the day before the parks closing," Raven added.

"Everything seemed normal up until the ride got going and it was moving much faster than it should have," Carter continued.

"There was a laugh like a witch's cackle and some green lightning," William put in.

"Then a flash and the car went flying," Katherine said.

"More like the car went crashing," Ben mumbled.

"And I nearly became BBQ!" Ayden complained.

"Did you recognize the laughter at all?" Mickey pressed.

"Ya...I did but I can't remember where from..." Katherine quietly offered. Mickey and Yen Sid both looked intently at Walt.

He nodded and coughed. "Well I think that I have explained everything, so what do you plan to do?"

They all sat quietly staring at each-other, "I think..." Riley started, "We are going to have to go and find a couple of keys..."

Walt bobbed his head, "That'll work."

 ** _Chapter 5: Adventure Awaits_**

Yen Sid clapped his hands together and raised them towards the ceiling. Two orbs of light descended spiraling each other and as they touched the floor a pedestal appeared. Upon it was large red and gold embroidered book. Yen Sid pointed at William sitting on the end of the couch and motioned for him to approach.

"What is this?" William asked nervously.

Yen Sid spoke, but in a slightly kinder voice, as if he understood that William needed to be addressed in this gentler tone, "This is the Book of Nexum et Incantationem. It will match you with what you will need most on your quest, based on what it assesses from you. Once it does, it will select a guide to help you."

The book's pages flapped open and stopped randomly to a blank page. Yen Sid took one of the quills from the desk and handed it to William, "Sign your name, that's all the book needs to evaluate you."

William scribbled his name at the top. Once he did, the page pulsed with a golden light and a warm breeze that washed over him. Music played, and William recognized it immediately as the catchy repetitive tune from his favorite Disney song, "Gonna Take You There". The ceiling above became a color spectrum with the northern lights dancing above them.

It was from those lights, that a small brown owl flew down from the ceiling and perched on the top of the pedestal before William.

"Well this boy looks promising, tell me is your head filled with a brain or pinfeathers?"

The bird demanded.

"Archimedes," Walt said in a cautionary voice.

"I'm sorry but what am I supposed to do with my guide?" William asked.

"Pinfeathers!" Archimedes cried ruffling his feathers and puffing out his chest annoyedly.

"They will help you on your journey...think of them as a guardian, like how Mickey is mine," Walt reassured them, "everyone who crosses over from earth has one whether they need them or not."

Yen Sid ushered William and a grumbling Archimedes to take a seat, while he prompted Raven forward. She did so and repeated the process that William did. The same result happened with the difference of the melody to "Reflection" playing. From the ceiling descended not an owl, but a ghostly dog with long flowing ears and a little pumpkin nose. He barked happily and circled around Raven,

"Zero?" The dog barked in acknowledgement. Next Ayden stepped forward, signed his name, and the song "Out There" sounded throughout the room. A pink blob with big eyes appeared and giggled madly.

"Wha! What is this thing?"

Ben stood up and stepped forward, "It's Morph!"

"From what?" Ayden looked uncertainly at the blob as it shapeshifted into a miniature version of himself and began mocking him playfully.

"Treasure Planet."

"Okay then," Ayden went to sit back down and since Ben was already standing he went ahead and signed the book too. The song "I'm Still Here," nearly became lost due to the sound of bells ringing loudly.

A stream of light zoomed down from the ceiling and circled Ben causing his vision to become spotted, "What the?"

The bells followed the light as it flitted over to Yen Sid and Walt. They rang out in what could pass for a frustrated tone,

"No Tink I'm sorry, but he is your partner." Walt said chuckling. She flitted back over to Ben and he held out his palm flat,

"Look Tinkerbell," Ben said, "the sooner we find the keys, the sooner you can get back to Peter." She paused before chiming reluctantly and landed in his hand.

"Can you understand her?" Riley asked in amazement.

"Ya, can't you?" Ben said a bit puzzled. Riley shook her head and Ben took his seat back on the couch.

Riley stepped forward and would have needed a step stool to reach the book, if the pedestal didn't magically shrink to her height. She signed her name and the familiar ear worm of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman," filled the room. A glowing bubble slowly descended from the glittering ceiling in front of her and burst with a small _pop_ revealing a crab on the book.

"Sebastian?" Riley asked.

"Horatio Thelonious Ignacious Crustaceous Sebastian," he introduced himself.

"I'm Riley, Horatio…Ignacious…uhm…would it be alright if I just call you Sebastian?" She asked timidly.

"But of course," Riley held out her hand and allowed him to scuttle up her arm to rest on her shoulder.

Katherine walking past her sister to the book, as it readjusted itself to normal height, and signed her name. Everyone heard the whimsical song of "The Second Star to the Right," but Katherine heard "Beyond the Laughing Sky."

"Not many have an unused song as their favorite song," Walt said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"It fits her too," said a small figure floating down from above with an umbrella. Katherine couldn't tell what or who it was until he just about landed on the book before her. It was a tiny green cricket that inclined his hat to Katherine as she gasped, "Cricket's the name, Jiminy Cricket."

"Katherine Davis, nice to meet you." He hopped up onto her shoulder and she retook her seat. Carter moved forward and finished the group off with the triumphant sound of "I Can Go the Distance," before it was interrupted with a scream. A red blur hurtled straight into the river stone floor narrowly missing the pedestal. Carter leaned over to look down at his guardian. In a settling puff of smoke, a red lizard with blue horns lay flattened on the ground. It peeled itself from the stones grunting,

"ooh, ow, ah yup that's gonna hurt in the morning," Once he got up he began to brush himself off and complaining, "gone and ruined my big entrance, this is no way to treat a guardian dragon. Hey!" He shouted addressing Yen Sid, "I've got a bone to pick with you! You gave the sea cockroach a bubble to descend in and everyone else can fly! Even the flea got an umbrella!"

"Mushu?" Carter said amazed. Mushu looked up at Carter and spiraled up the pedestal to be at eye level.

"Yeah that's right! I the great Mushu, am your personal guardian dragon. Please, please, hold your applause people."

No one applauded, as Carter picked up Mushu to sit back down.

Walt looked at the seven of them with their new guardians, he then exhaled and said, "you will need some supplies for your journey."

With that Yen Sid waved his hand and seven small bags landed in their laps.

"Some essentials to see you through," Walt said, "a map of Fantasmic, food, water, communication methods, etcetera. If there are no more questions, then I'll read you the first riddle, so you can set off." He unfolded the paper and cleared his throat,

 ** _"_** ** _The Key that Sneezy hid, are on grounds that natives once forbid. Haunted this place is believed, many still go, for treasures to be retrieved. Tread with caution in this place, lest you or it become defaced."_**

They thought quietly for a moment then Carter said, "forbidden and haunted, could it be the Haunted Mansion?"

Katherine and Riley shivered at the thought of going to a real life scale of the Haunted Mansion. Although they loved the ride back home, they didn't relish in the idea of encountering real ghosts and lingering spirits; Especially the Black Widow Bride from the attic.

William argued, "No, that would be too obvious. Besides there are no natives related to the Haunted Mansion."

"Treasures to be retrieved...it could be the treasure cove in Pirates of the Caribbean, and that would relate to the haunted aspect, y'know…because of the skeletons and the cursed Aztec gold," Ben threw out there.

"What if," Ayden spoke slowly, "the word 'natives' is short for native Americans."

"That could tie into the cowboys and Indians in Frontierland," Raven commented.

"I think I remember reading somewhere the backstory of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was sacred Indian grounds and the gold rush seekers disregarded this to mine for gold!"

"If a sacred land is disregarded wouldn't that make it cursed?" Riley inquired.

"Hence, why you must tread with caution," Ayden exclaimed, "it all fits!"

"Let's go then!" Carter said standing up.

They all followed suit, but William said unsurely, "maybe only half of us should go?" They paused looking at him puzzled.

"Sticking together is what we always learned in Girl Scouts," Riley piped.

"And you shouldn't get lost either," Sebastian added.

"Let's hear him out," Jiminy said in a surprisingly loud voice for such a small being.

"If the villains want the keys too, it stands to reason that they will probably be watching us while we are looking for the keys. If we split up we can not only divide their focus, but we can utilize the time to our advantage," William addressed Mickey, "where is the biggest source of information here in Fantasmic?"

"I would say it would have to be Belle's Library," Mickey said after a quick moment.

"If some of us go to look for the key at Big Thunder, and some of us go to the Library, we can try and research on where to open the portal, and maybe even find something out for one of the other keys too." They were quiet for a long time, processing this idea.

Archimedes fluttered over and landed on top of Williams head, "Well boy, perhaps you have a brain in there after all."

Ben scratched his head, "It's not a bad idea, the question is who is going to the frontier and who is going to the castle?"

"Wherever I go, I'm staying with my sister," Katherine stated, putting a protective arm around Riley.

"Raven and I will go with William to the Library," Ayden Volunteered. William looked at his friend gratefully. Morph shifted into a dwarf and mimicked "Hi-Ho."

"Ben and I will go with Katherine and Riley to Frontierland and try to find the key." Carter stated. They all nodded at the plan.

They said goodbye to Walt, Yen Sid and Mickey and promised to return to the Sorcerers Workshop once they found the keys. William, Raven, and Ayden set off in the direction of the enchanted forest inside a carriage. The others set off down the dusty trail in a stage coach towards Frontierland. They all felt butterflies and knots in their stomachs from the anticipation of the adventure to come.

Deep bellow Fantasmic in the depths of the Underworld, a group stood huddled around a pensive, looking glass watching the two group of youths depart.

"Ahh," a green woman with tall black horns uttered, "They're splitting up I see."

"Braggards," a skinny pirate with curly black hair cursed, brandishing the hook on his left hand menacingly, "Think they can outsmart us, do they?"

"Hey, they're kids," a tall blue man in a black toga with a head of fire chuckled, "How smart could they be?"

"Silence," the woman spat. The group fell silent at her command, knowing full well the danger in defying her, "Children or not, they are not to be underestimated," She paused for a moment thinking. She turned to a tall, black figure who was emitting steady breathing noises from the menacing black mask that covered his face, "Lord Vader, you are a seasoned war General, what do you propose we do?"

Vader stepping forward breathed, "Assemble all of our allies in each of the realms," he said in a deep voice, "have them do the work of finding the children, then we will step in to claim the prize."

"Let it be done," said Maleficent, turning to the other shadowy figures, "you heard him, find those children and bring them to the hall of gathering." A gold and green shimmer behind the group made the group turn to see a lean spender man in emerald green robes and a gold horned headpiece walking towards the lot, "What have you to report?"

"We located it in Tomorrowland sector 4A and have brought them to Hell Hall, Dr. Falcier and Grimhilde are with them now."

"Very well…I must go and perform the ceremony. this meeting is adjourned."

The shadows faded away into the darkness, laughing menacingly.

 ** _Chapter 6: The Open Frontier_**

"Are you sure your reading the map right?" Mushu asked Katherine.

He hid from the sun under Carters hat he had gotten from the Frontierland stall before setting off. The group had been traveling all day, and the sun was now setting low casting a red sunset. They were dirty and tired from traveling through the open planes and had passed only a few other travelers on their journey. They had been advised to head for Rainbow Ridge being that it was the closest town to Big Thunder Mountain. The landscape was residented by wild cattle, lizards, and buzzards and decorated with many different types of cactus and rocks.

"Pretty sure," she replied a little agitated. But the truth was, Katherine wasn't sure she was reading the map right. Back home she would hopelessly get lost if her GPS didn't give her directions. She longed for there to be service on her phone to pull up directions. But there was no use, although the magic in Fantasmic kept their phones charged, there was no service in Fantasmic, "but if you think you can do better…you can take over."

"You've got nuttin' to complain about mon," Sebastian scolded.

"Sebastian is right, we were lucky enough to have been given a stagecoach to use and the heat isn't as bad as it could be," Jiminy agreed.

Mushu groaned for the fiftieth time that day, "Nothing to complain about...hmph! I was the only one to be canon balled into the ground! While all of you were so sweetly descended."

"Maybe we should set up camp before we lose the light completely," Carter offered slowing the horses down. They agreed and set up camp. Katherine and Riley built a fire and Ben fished out some food from his nap sack. They ate sandwiches and drank cold cola then rolled out the sleeping mats that were in the back of the wagon and laid under the stars. The night was warm, so they didn't really need blankets, but Katherine and Riley made makeshift ones with their jackets anyway. They made up constellation stories to go with the shapes in the sky; for the constellations they knew back home were nowhere to be found in this sky.

"So how is it you two know each other?" Katherine asked.

"My parents were neighbors to his," Carter started, "and when I was younger, they would ask his mom to watch me since she was a stay-at-home-mom."

"We've been close ever since, he was the big brother I never had..." Ben divulged," I need to see if I still have my receipt for him."

"No returns, exchanges, or refunds," Carter said slugging Ben in the arm.

"How about donations?" With that they began to wrestle, and Katherine and Riley rolled their eyes. When then had settled down again Ben continued, "No but with this one I've really been able to be a good roll model for my little brother Troy."

"How old is he?" Riley asked.

"Five," Ben said before belching loudly.

Katherine smiled and laughed softly. While she had a good relationship with her sister she admired their brotherly relationship because they weren't really related but didn't care and furthermore it has become better for others involved. Carter took a drink of his cola before saying,

"His dad is the reason I am choosing Firefighting as a career."

"Yea once he finishes school and gets his degree, dad is gonna help him get a job, and he can move in with his girlfriend yadda-yadda-yadda" Ben said adjusting his matt.

"Well Jessica and I may move in before then, it all depends on if we can find a place and make it work."

Ben rolled his eyes, he didn't like Jessica much. Since they started dating he felt like he had seen less and less of Carter and she always seemed to invite herself along to their guys nights. This Disneyland trip had been the first time in over a year that they had been able to hang out just the two of them because she couldn't get time off work. Ben tried to voice his feelings about her to Carter, but his friend was so stupidly gaga for her, that he couldn't see any problem of what Ben was trying to say. After somewhat of an awkward moment pause it was Riley who broke the silence addressing Ben,

"And what do you wanna be?"

"No idea," Ben admitted relaxing at the change of subject from Jessica, "but I'll know it when I find it." They talked for a bit more into the night before drifting off to sleep.

Ben slept deeply until a chiming sound in his ear drew him out of it. He rolled over and awoke to a now angry chime.

"What the?" he had rolled over onto Tinkerbell. He freed her from his trappings and she brushed herself off, "Sorry Tink I-"she shushed him urgently and spoke in a low Bell sounds, "What's wrong? Someone is watching us? Who? Bandits...Led by Alameda Slim?" Now that Ben was awake, he realized he did hear horses not too far off, "How many are there? Twelve? Okay...wake the others." Tinkerbell has no problems waking the others and they all looked inquisitively at Ben for an explanation. He whispered as quietly as possible the word Bandits. They became more alert to show they understood. They could hear the crunch of gravel shifting and muffled whispers nearby. Ben moved, as if he was rolling over in his sleep, and grabbed the closest thing to him that he could use as a weapon. The others followed suit grabbing random objects such as frying pans, plates and empty cola bottles. The jingle of spurs became discernible and they all looked at each other. They held up their hands and counted one, two, three...

"Go!" Carter bellowed.

They sprang up from the ground and took a mad dash to the stage coach. Tinker bell emitted a blinding flash of light that dazed their attackers. While they were temporarily blinded Mushu let off fireballs at their feet, forcing them to retreat a few paces back. They bolted for the wagon and clambered in.

Katherine shouted to Carter, "Drive!"

"Wait!" Ben panted, "where's Tink?" Looking back over to where the light had originated, he saw the tiny form of Tinkerbell laying crumpled on the ground.

Without a second thought Ben jumped from the wagon and ran back for her calling back to the others as he did, "Get Going I'll catch up!" Carter reluctantly urged the horses to go but kept them at a pace he knew Ben could catch up with. Ben sprinted to the spot where Tinkerbell laid, and expertly baseball slid on the ground scooping her up into his hand as he did. The Fire Mushu has created was now dying and the crooks were now getting their sight back. Adrenaline pumping, Ben launched himself like a track runner, making a mad dash for the coach after his friends. The bandits had retrieved their horses and were now riding hard to catch up.

Katherine and Riley shouted to him, "Come on! You can do it! Hurry!"

Ben wasn't sure he could but the urge to live, the adrenaline boost, and the want to keep Tinkerbell safe; urged him to take an impossible leap of faith. He jumped right into the back of the wagon, landing with a hard thud, and lay sprawled on the floor bed coughing and breathing hard.

"He's in! Speed up!" Kat informed Carter. He flicked the reins and urged the horses to go faster. They needed little to no persuasion as their pursuers were now firing pistols at them.

Mushu jumped up and down anxiously, "Come on, can't you heifers go any faster?"

The horses tried their best, but the weight of the wagon and passengers gave them no chance against the other horses who only had their riders to carry. Then a couple of the rouges were now riding alongside the wagon. One of them got close enough to try jumping onto the wagon where Carter was driving but was knocked off his horse with a direct aim to the head of a kettle thrown by Riley.

"Dats what you get Mon!" Sebastian shouted.

But their small victory was short lived as several of the outlaws ran ahead of the wagon and had them surrounded. One of them threw a rope into the wheel causing it to get tangled up and become useless. With the balance thrown off the wagon skirted, slowed and tipped over splintering as it did. The rouges remained surrounding them and laughed menacingly. Riding up into the circle came a large beefy man, with a curled sinister mustache and a greedy glint in his eyes.

"Well now, it's been some time since we've had a good chase down. Ain't that right boys?" The bandits yipped and whooped in triumph. The beefy man, who Tinkerbell jingled weakly telling Ben that he was Alameda Slim, flashed his yellowish teeth and twirling his mustache he continued gloating, "You kiddies obviously aren't from around here so why don't I make yous a deal. You give me the clue to the key there and we'll leave. And don't try and bluff telling me yous ain't got it cause I knows ya do." Katherine tightened the grip on her bag. Before leaving for Frontierland, Walt had given them their clue to take with them. They all glared back at Alameda Slim not answering him. "Not talking eh?" Slim said. He whistled to one of his boys and pointed at Riley. A tall dark man, with long black sideburns and a intent set look dismounted and went for her snatching her by the hair and yanking her to her feet.

Katherine protested, "No!" But another bandit had approached with the first and slapped her so hard she fell backward. Carter and Ben moved to Katherine to see if she was ok.

"Kitty!" Riley called to her sister and yelped in pain as the man who had her jerked her hair barking, "be quiet you!"

"If any of you had a conscience then you wouldn't be picking on a helpless little girl or any of these kids like you are!" Jiminy chastised.

"Yeah don't think they are worried about doing the right thing here Jim," Mushu said flatly.

Alameda cackled and spat, "Well...what's it gonna be kiddies?"

Before they could answer they were interrupted by a soft, gleeful "Yeeodle-Lay-Hee-Hoo."

Two of Slim's men became lassoed away.

"What the?" Alameda Slim puzzled. A brown horse with large hooves rode in and weaved in between the men causing them to fall back. The one holding Riley screamed in anger and released her as Sebastian scuttled up to his hand and pinched hard with his claws.

"Riley Go!" He said then continued to pinch the ruffian hard with his dense claws. Alameda Slim didn't know what was going on but he dove for the kids and was greeted by a hard kick to the face,

"That was my sister you threatened," Said a very angry Katherine. Carter, who had more power, punched him hard in the gut causing him to keel over. Native critters such as rabbits, eagles, and snakes came from nowhere and were beating on the thieves. A lasso looped and tightened around Alameda Slim.

A figure came up as the sun rose behind him, he lifted his head and said with a wry smile, "Reach for the Sky."

 ** _Chapter 7: Hunters and Ruffians_**

After leaving the others in Main Street Plaza, William, Ayden, and Raven had set off. They rode in a blue and silver coach to Beast's Castle in Fantasyland. Traveling through the enchanted forest they were not disappointed to see friendly critters and fairies. They had waved excitedly to other travelers on the road like Alice and her cat Dinah, or the seven Dwarfs heading to work. The carriage was cozy and comfortable; Ayden stared lazily out the window while morph gazed interestedly mimicking and shifting into each new creature he saw. Raven had pulled out her sketchpad that she never went anywhere without and passed some of the timehad entertained herself by drawing a rough sketch of her canineghostly companion. The After a while though the warm breeze that blew through the air smelled as pleasantly as a real forest that caused her to lean her head back and drift off to sleep with Zero resting his ghostly head on her sketch pad.

"Do you think it's strange that Zero isn't cold like most ghosts and specters are depicted to be?" William asked Archimedes while staring at Zero asleep.

Archimedes fluffed his feathers and said pompously, "in my studies on ghosts and, specters as you call them, animal beings give off a warm energy while humans ghosts give off cold ones."

"Why is that?"

"While not all people are bad, everyone has some sort of darkness or even thinks bad thoughts at least once in their lives. And while yes, some animals are dangerous, they are at their core, pure."

"Ah I understand," William nodded.

Archimedes tried not to look too pleased with himself but failed in his attempt, "In any case you will have a chance to study these things once we get to Belle's Library.

The carriage hit a bump and Raven awoke, yawned and said sleepily, she stretched and putting her notepad away she asked sleepily, "about how much further? I could use some food." The sun was now setting, and they had been caught up in the excitement of delving deeper into Fantasmic, that they just now realized they haven't eaten since breakfast. Zero barked and morph rubbed his tummy in agreement.

"There should be a place a bit further ahead where we can eat and rest for the night, we won't get to the castle until tomorrow."

Ayden stretched and sighed, "So how exactly are we to research this library?" William and Raven looked at him questioningly, "Well it's not exactly like we can look up where the keys are exactly, you heard Yen Sid, they went to extreme lengths to hide these keys. It's not like we are going to find a book that tells us where to go exactly."

They thought on this for a moment but before any of them could answer the carriage lurched to a stop. They heard their driver speak in a polite tone, "Pardon me gentlemen, just passing through."

The man who answered back spoke in a bold confident voice, "Of course man, where is it your off to?"

"Traveling to Prince Adam's castle," their driver replied. The tone of his voice made the group nervous, while he still sounded pleasant and polite there was a hint of hesitation and nervousness in his voice too.

There was a tense pause before the outsider spoke again, "So who is so important for you to be chauffeuring to the Beast's castle?"

"Just some travelers from Main Street."

"Well they must think pretty high and mighty of themselves to not even want to step out and say hello..."

"No sir, they are just tired from their travels."

"I know who that is," Raven whispered urgently.

"Who?" Ayden and William asked.

"Gaston..." the three of them exchanged knowing looks that him crossing their path is no coincidence.

"He must think we have the clue to the key," Ayden suggested.

"Even though we don't, I don't think we should wait to explain that."

"What should we do?" William asked, "Cause we can't escape this carriage without them seeing us."

"I think I have an idea...Morph," Ayden said looking at the floating blob. He happily looked to Ayden for instructions, but his scatter brain demeanor wasn't reassuring, "can you shape shift into a deer?"

"Ya-ya-ya-ya," Morph giggled madly demonstrating his ability to do so on a small scale.

"Good, but I need you to shift into a bigger one...can you do that? No! Not in here! We need you to distract Gaston and his lackeys, so we can escape this carriage. Can you do that for us?" Morph licked Ayden's cheek affectionately and zoomed out of the window. They waited with baited breath for the moment to escape.

They didn't have to wait long, as soon as they heard one of the men say, "Gaston, Look at that beauty!"

They waited to hear for Gaston to acknowledge Morph before they made their move, swiftly exiting from the side door and into the thick of the trees. There was a loud bang of a gunshot fired, breaking the peaceful tranquility of the Forrest.

They sped up, running as quickly and silently as possible, until they reached a small clearing in the dense forest. They leaned against trunks panting for breath and wiping the sweat from their faces.

"I think we lost them..." breathed Ayden.

"That was a good idea," William commended his friend.

"Thanks."

"Problem is it's getting dark and we don't know the way to the Inn."

"Luckily for you, I do know the way," Archimedes puffed in an arrogant tone.

"Then lead the way oh feathered one," Raven circled her arm motioning any direction. Zero barked and floated ahead letting his pumpkin nose light their path.

Ayden looked back in the direction they had just ran from, "Don't worry," Archimedes said in an uncharacteristically kind voice, "Morph is bonded to you, and so like a compass that points north, he will find us." Ayden nodded, and they started to follow Archimedes' directions by the light of Zero's nose. They walked for what seemed like an hour. Archimedes flew above the Forrest canopy every 10 minutes to make sure they were still going the right way. Night had completely fallen now and the forest, while beautiful during the day, kept playing tricks on their eyes making them jump at any sound or see things that weren't there. They were tired, cold and hungry and Raven, who was not wearing proper walking shoes leaned against a tree for a short break for the fourth time that hour. Zero floated back over to her to illuminate their huddle and to see if she was ok.

"Again?" William complained, "at this rate we won't reach anywhere with you needing to stop and rest so often."

"Shut-up Will," Raven said not bothering to hide the annoyed tone in her voice, "I didn't know when we went to Disneyland that we would get sucked into another world where we would have to look for keys, and hike to get away from villains who are perusing us and have hostile intentions!"

"You still should have worn more practical walking shoes for going into Disneyland," William argued.

"You know what?"

"Guys, c'mon" Ayden said trying to calm them down. They both began to protest angrily about the other but Ayden cut them off, "Quiet!" they stopped and listened. There was no sound for a moment, nothing but the wind blowing, and the natural sounds of the forest. So, when Morph appeared out of the darkness and circled Ayden happily, they all jumped out of their skins from the loud burst of noise he made, "Morph! You found us, good boy! Did you have any trouble shaking them?" Morph mimicked playing hide and seek with the hunters before heading back to them.

"Yes…we almost did lose him, but luckily, I am such an accomplished hunter," Gaston said as he came around a tree. He and the rest of his hunting party had blended into the darkness so well that when they emerged from behind the trees surrounding them they stared around in disbelief. Morph let out a scared squeal and they froze. He was tall, as handsome as he was depicted to be in the animated film and had a sinister ere about him. He spoke in his confident tone and pointed at Morph triumphantly, "After we initially spotted IT posing as a deer he ran into the Forrest in the opposite direction that you went. I almost pursued, but then remembered our priorities. When we realized you had escaped I knew the deer must've been a part of the plan, so I tracked it down knowing it would eventually make its way back to you."

A short funny looking man with grey bags under his eyes and a crooked grin interjected, "No one tracks like Gaston."

"While this...thing," Gaston gestured to Morph again, who was still cowering behind Ayden's shoulder, "was much different than what I'm used to tracking, I rather enjoyed the challenge."

He laughed, and his other men joined in as well. Zero growled and barked at them hovering in front of Raven protectively. Another blonde man with a big nose and greasy blonde hair spoke, "I bet your tracking skills are even better than those weirdos from Tomorrowland's stupid science stuff."

"You got that right Dick!" Lefou agreed. Gaston who clearly enjoyed being praised and admired flexed impressively. This gave Raven an idea, "sure anyone can track something down when you have something to follow, but I bet you couldn't track us if you didn't have Morph to follow. I bet you couldn't do it in the dark like this either!"

"You don't know anything ye little brat!" Another short burley man said in a husky voice.

"Yeah! Gaston is the greatest hunter in the whole world!" said Lefou.

"No doubt about it," agreed Dick.

Although his men were defending his honor, Gaston didn't like his skill being questioned, especially by a girl. Gaston bellowed, interrupting his men,

"Now, now men, I don't see why we can't have a bit more fun and extended this hunt. Not that I need to prove it, but I can track these kids here in the Forrest day or night."

Ayden stepped forward following Raven's lead, "then prove your skill to us foreigners. Prove to us that you're as great of a hunter as you men say you are by giving us a head start. Most things you hunt anyway don't know they are being hunted. Since we know we are being hunted, we will make the chase even more interesting."

Gaston pondered this for a moment. They held their breath hoping he would take the bait. "Tom!" Gaston barked causing the short man to jump. "You have a watch on you, correct?"

Tom extracted a brass pocket watch and brought it to Gaston, "You will have 15 minutes head start. Go!"

Ayden, Raven, and William started running, Zero swiveled between them to get in front to light their way and Archimedes was urging them, "Head North East! No, this way Zero!" They had no choice but to follow Zero, for without his nose they would be plunged into darkness. "He is going the wrong way! The Inn is North, not North West!"

"I trust Zero so I'm following his lead!" Raven argued. Archimedes hooted in agitation and followed, flying above William muttering, "Pinfeathers and Golly fluff!"

"Never mind that now Archimedes, could you fly back and check to make sure they aren't on our trail? Woah!" William tripped over a large root protruding from the earth. "Will, are you ok-OOFF!" Ayden too had tripped over the same root.

Raven looked back at them and urged, "c'mon guys we need to hurry, Archimedes check to see how far off they are."

"No! No, no, NO!"

"Archimedes! I know you won't let yourself be seen, but we need to know!" William said getting back to his feet.

The small compliment must've worked, because he reluctantly gave in and flew off saying, "Alright, alright!"

Morph whimpered sadly and flew lower.

"Don't worry Morph," Ayden comforted, "you didn't know you were being followed."

They continued to run through the trees and came to a dirt road that forked into two paths. One path continued on to the left, while the other went up to what looked like a tavern with brightly lit windows.

"We can hide in there!" Raven suggested, "maybe someone there will help us."

Zero barked and flew towards it stopping only when William protested, "Wait! Maybe we should just keep running down the road. Try to lose them."

"Look Will," Raven said seriously, "we don't have time to debate this, Zero led us here. I think we should go inside. Plus, we can't keep running all night and we know Gaston will eventually catch up."

Ayden went to William and put his hand on his shoulder, "She is right Will, at least here, we might get some help."

William clenched his jaw and fists still not sure. The flapping of wings interrupted them, Archimedes had returned. The quickness of his return unsettled them even more,

"they're not far behind, he must've given up after five minutes of waiting...blasted pinhead!"

This seemed to convince William and they sprinted the last few yards to the tavern. They entered and had to pause to take in their surroundings. It was a large room with a roaring fire, a bar to their left and the smell of grease filled their nostrils. But the thing that really made them pause was the occupants of the place. Everywhere, at every table, sitting in every chair, in every corner of the room was filled with ruffians and thugs; wearing tarnished armor, cow hides, and dirty furs. Some had helmets with horns and others had hooks for hands or other body parts. The music and commotion died away as they became very interested in the three-young people who were standing in their doorway staring.

 ** _Chapter 8: Rainbow Ridge_**

The four of them sat there dumbstruck, mouths open, staring at sheriff Woody as he tied up Alameda Slim more securely.

A red-haired girl, sporting a denim vest and cow print pants came up, "some of Slim's men got away, but we caught most of 'em, including Rico and his nephews ."

"I think having these five at the least will quiet things down for a while. Jessie gag these guys, will ya? I'm gonna question these ones," Woody walked around their captives, who were now tied up on the ground, scowling angrily, and approached the small group of four by the wrecked stagecoach.

"Howdy there folks, are you alright?" he asked offering a hand to Carter.

Now that they felt safe they realized the wreck did more damage to them then they realized. Since Katherine had held her sister in a protective cocoon during the crash, Riley was able to walk away with a few minor scrapes and a headache; due to when Rico grabbed her.

Katherine, Ben, and Carter however were badly bruised and bleeding from a few cuts.

"I think other than some cuts and bruises we're okay," Carter said taking Woody's hand and getting to his feet, wincing as he did so.

"I'm Sheriff Woody of Frontierland."

"Carter Lance, nice to meet you Sheriff. This is Ben, Katherine and Riley," He indicated the others as their names were said.

Woody inclined his head politely to each of them, "what was it those outlaws wanted with you?"

"We were asleep and must've looked like easy prey," Ben said with a grimace as he stood up. Tinkerbell had now recovered and was hovering over his shoulder.

"Man, it's too bad you showed up," Mushu started, "I was about to teach those guys not to mess with the great dragon Mushu!"

"Is that why you were hiding in Carter's pocket?" Jiminy observed.

"I wasn't hiding! I was preparing for a sneak attack!"

"A lie only grows until it's as plain as your nose."

"A flea only lives when it doesn't annoy others."

"Be quiet mon, the last ting we need is to be fightin' after dat ordeal," Sebastian said exasperatedly at Riley's feet.

She picked him up and held him, "Thanks Sebastian for helping to get me away from those creeps."

They stopped for a moment and all thanked everyone for helping them.

"Of course, young Riley," Sebastian started.

"Aw don't mention it," Mushu continued.

"It's our job," Jiminy reassured.

"What are you talking about? You didn't do anything!" Mushu declared.

"Ouch!" Ben cried out, Tinkerbell had pinched him and rang out in an annoyed tone, "Yes Tink you're right, we would've been toast if you hadn't been keeping watch." She nodded and jingled in a satisfied tone.

"Well now that we've caught these outlaws, their horses are available if you wanna ride them into town," Woody suggested.

"Is that near Thunder Mountain?" Katherine asked.

"Why in the name of Sam Hill would you kids wanna go to Thunder Mountain?" Jessie said abashed as she strode over to them, "don't you know how dangerous it is there?"

"We don't really have a choice," Riley sighed, "that's where one of the keys is at."

"Riley! Shhhh..." Katherine hushed, glancing back at the bandits to be sure they were out of earshot.

"I know Kitty!" Riley said annoyedly at her sister.

"One of the seven keys is hidden in Big Thunder Mountian?" Jessie breathed.

"Yeah? You know about the keys? I thought they were supposed to be a secret?" Ben said confused.

"Dats why everyone knows mon," Sebastian said bluntly.

"Huh, secrets and hushed topics work the same here as they do back home," Katherine observed.

"Why don't you tell us the whole story on our way to Rainbow Ridge. That's the town closest to Big Thunder," Woody suggested.

Jessie and Woody double checked the ropes on their prisoners before saddling up. The rest of them followed suit. Since they weren't experienced horse riders they had to travel slow. Alameda Slim and his men tied to a long rope were made to walk in front of them by 3 yards so that Jessie and Woody could keep an eye on them. This also worked so that when the four kids told them their story, they didn't have to worry about the outlaws overhearing. They traveled for a couple of hours before arriving at Rainbow Ridge. It was a decent sized frontier town, with a fair amount of people living in it. There was a saloon called The Golden Horseshoe, a dentist's office, a hotel, a blacksmiths shop and a small stable outside most of the establishments.

"This reminds me of that town mom used to take us to," Riley said to Katherine with a smile.

"Ya it does look like Columbia," Katherine agreed.

"Where's Columbia?" Carter asked.

"It's in Northern California area a little ways past Yosemite," Katherine informed.

"It's a real western ghost town," Riley added with joy.

"Really?" Carter said back, "sounds legit!"

They rode to a building marked Sheriff's office and dismounted. Woody told them to head over to the Golden Horseshoe and told them to come back to the sheriff's station when they had finished. He and Jessie needed to lock up Slim and his men and file their paperwork. Because they were tired and hungry from their travels they didn't hesitate to make their way to the saloon. They could hear the fun piano tune before they entered the establishment. They entered a large room with nearly every seat taken. Making their way upstairs to the balcony to try and find a table to seat all four of them they noticed the stage that everyone was facing. On it was a piano off to the side where a man with a handlebar mustache and a black bowl hat sat and played. The room was loud with laughter and chatter.

Once they finally located an empty table, they sat and a woman in a loud blue and black dress and a plume hat approached and asked in a southern accent, "Howdy, what'll it be fer y'all today?"

"Uhm...well," Katherine started, "We would like some food, what do you got?"

"We got our Rainbow Ridge River Fish, beans, applesauce and corn bread."

Ben made a face, "Do you have anything other than fish?"

The lady looked at him with an annoyed then offered, "Well mister, I dunno where yer from, but here in Frontierland we eat what wees is given, but since ya seem ta think so high of yerself that yer too good fer what's available, I'll see if we got any pork fer yer high and mightyness."

"The fish will be fine for all of us," Carter intervened giving a cautious look to Ben. She nodded sweetly at Carter and winked before waking off.

"Hmm I think she likes you boy," Mushu said in an approving tone nudging Carter in the side of the head. A sour feeling formed in Katherine's stomach as she instantly decided that she didn't like their waitress.

An applause interrupted their thoughts and the curtains opened on stage to reveal a curly auburn-haired lady wearing a fancy red dress,

"Hello Everyone!" She greeted. She began to sing, and the crowd clapped along to her song.

They ate their food and met back up with Woody and Jessie at the Sheriff's office as the sun was setting low over the plains of the frontier. Jessie smiled at them and said,

"Woody and I made arrangements for you kids to stay at the El Dorado Hotel for tonight, tomorrow we'll take you to Big Thunder Mountain."

"But who's going to keep an eye on the town if your both coming?" Katherine asked.

"Don't worry, we have the Lone Ranger and Tonto on standby if there's trouble."

Since they had such a rough start the day before they felt exhausted and had no trouble sleeping on the lumpy mattresses. They got up with the first rays of sunlight, fully rested. They gathered their things and saddled their horses, eating biscuits with jam on the go. They didn't have to travel too far before they could see the haunting shape of Big Thunder looming in the distance. Although they were still a way away from the mountains, they could hear the distant unmistakable clapping of thunder. Above the foreboding formation, was a collection of storm clouds and the distinct flashes of lightning within them; while over their heads currently was clear blue sky. They crossed the river running between them and the mountain and made their way closer and closer to the call of thunder. Once they stood at the base they dismounted.

Looking up at its ominous features Ben started to walk away,

"Nope! We tried!" Carter grabbed his shoulder stopping Ben dead in his tracks, "C'mon that says danger and death all over it! And besides, I don't even see a way for us to get in." Tinkerbell chimed and darted out of sight only to return a moment later ringing with the sound of bells.

"What did she say?" Katherine asked.

"She said there is a cave entrance a little ways off that way," Mushu said pointing in the directing Tink had flown off to.

"Oh great..." Ben said unenthusiastically. They followed Tinkerbell to the cave entrance. Katherine and Carter peered inside.

Katherine said, "It's pretty dark in there, we are going to need lights." They both reached into their pockets and pulled out their phones to use the flashlights.

"Those aren't very bright; shouldn't we use torches or lanterns or something?" Riley asked.

"Caves are notorious for containing natural gasses, and while these caves might be ok, I don't wanna risk an explosion. Especially considering the ride back home isn't depicted for being safe like 'Small World'"

"Point taken."

"Now that's a smart kid right there," Jesse said. Katherine wanted to correct her by saying she isn't a kid but thought better of it and let it go.

They entered the cave single file. It grew colder the deeper they delved and soon had to don their jackets. They only traveled in for 10 min before it opened up to a wide-open cavern. They stood there amazed at the stalagmites and stalactites in the cave. Their gasps of amazement echoed off the cave walls. Water dripped from the ceiling and fell into pools of water that lit up with various colors once rippled. A waterfall flowed along one of the walls and down throughout the mountain.

"Whoa," Carter said impressed, "I've been to caverns before, but this puts the ones I've seen to shame!" Across the room they could spotted another tunnel and they continued into the mountain.

"Shouldn't we be a little warier about going into a haunted mountain?" Ben said.

"It'll be fine," Woody reassured, "the curse only takes effect when the spirits sense ill will. Many prospectors come here to mine for gold. If your wanting to mine for good reason, then the spirits will leave you alone but if your being selfish then..." as if to confirm what Woody was saying the mountain rumbled like thunder and small pieces of rocks fell from the ceiling.

"Maybe we should keep our voices down too," Jiminy suggested.

They all did so immediately. Now that they were all silent they could hear voices and clinking coming from the tunnel up ahead. They moved deeper into the mountain and came to another opening with rail tracks and miners with pickaxes working into the mountain. They became very nervous when they saw many mine carts filled with explosives. They crept behind rocks to get a view of what was going on, not sure if they could trust these miners yet.

A loud obnoxious voice boomed throughout the cave, "Come now men, put your back into it! Mine me that gold!" A large, porky man came into view wearing a bold purple suit with a feathered hat.

"Governor Ratcliff," Woody muttered.

They shrank more behind the rocks as another voice replied, "we are just about ready to blow this part away Governor."

"And Stinky Pete!" Jesse quietly exclaimed.

"Very good, very good," Ratcliff replied to Pete.

"Alright boys!" Pete yelled to the workers, "String it up!" The workers stopped mining into the mountain and started to set up dynamite all throughout the cave.

"I don't know about you mon but I don't wanna become part of de mountain," Sebastian stated.

As the workers started rolling the fuse out of sight Carter stood up and said,

"I've got an idea. Katherine lead the others up ahead into that nearby cavern, I'm gonna disconnect the wicks from those candles."

Katherine led the others into the next chamber while Carter and Mushu began disconnecting the fuses directly from the dynamite sticks making the dynamite useless.

Carter cut them with his pocket knife and Mushu with his claws, "it's a good thing security didn't find this on me before I came to the park."

"Not to mention a good thing for having a guardian who is essentially fireproof who isn't afraid of this challenge." They heard Pete in the distance give the order to light the fuse.

"Let's go, it won't take them long to realize there isn't a kaboom."

"Way ahead of you brother!" Mushu sprang from the wall onto Carter's shoulder and they took off after the others. He didn't have to run for more than five minutes to catch up with them.

"Did it work?" Jesse asked.

"Of course, it worked! My man Carter here has the brains!"

"Thanks Mushu, you really helped out black there."

"Hear that? Am I a guardian or am I a guardian?" Mushu praised himself flexing his imaginary muscles.

"We better keep going," Woody suggested. We may have prevented the explosion, but they are going to realize someone disconnected those fuses and we still have to find that key."

They nodded and kept moving deeper and deeper into the mountain. Along the walls they saw fossils of dinosaurs which Katherine insisted on stopping to take pictures of. They came to the mouth of the tunnel which opened up to a view that left them speechless. They stood in the center of the mountains with the blue sky above them and the sun revealing a glistening waterfall pouring into a glittering spring. Along the encircling mountains shone pieces of gold and sparkling crystals that reflected the rays of sunlight casting rainbows all over the lee. The clearing was alive with various desert trees, shrubs, and succulents as well as many different animals.

"What is this place?" Ben asked in awe.

"It's some sort of…mountain spring oasis," Katherine breathed.

"There seems to be extra magic here..." Riley said.

"What do you mean?" They looked at her.

"This place," she began, "notice how there is no negative energy...while yes everything we have seen here in Fantasmic has been magical, it's still also been realistic...here there's no dead plants...no aggression between predator and prey animals..."

"Wait a minute," Jiminy said, "didn't the clue say something about this land being sacred?"

"Yes!" They all exclaimed.

"The key has got to be here somewhere..." Jesse said.

"Good thinking there little lady," Woody praised clapping Riley on the shoulder. She beamed feeling for the first time that she was just as important as everyone else despite being the youngest, "Now let's fan out and start looking," Woody suggested.

"That won't be necessary..." Ben said looking up on a ledge. They followed his gaze and gaped at the mountain goat chewing absentmindedly with something hanging around its neck.

"It's the goat!" Katherine exclaimed.

"We can see that it's a goat," Ben bluntly said.

"No, I mean it's _The_ Goat! Y'know from the goat trick when you ride Big Thunder Mountain?"

"I've heard about that, but I've never experienced it," Carter said.

"What In tarnation is the 'Goat Trick'?" Jesse asked.

"She can explain it later, right now we have got to get that goat!" Ben said.

"Right," they agreed.

They came up with a plan to surround the goat and present it with offerings of food from their bags in hopes it will accept one of their offers allowing them to retrieve the key in exchange. They drew closer around the disinterested goat from all sides. Katherine and Riley from one side, Ben and Carter from the other, Woody and Jesse down below. They inched closer and closer to it and it wasn't until they were about ten paces from it that the goat stopped chewing mindlessly to acknowledge the people around him. It bleated unsurely with the key swinging back and forth around its neck. As they got closer they could see it was a small box with a dingy gold trim. The goat became interested in Riley's offering of bread and bleated at her taking one step towards her.

"I have been chosen," Riley whispered. Katherine snorted a laugh. They held their breath as Riley offered the bread to the goat, leaning forward the goat sniffing and craning its neck towards the food. While the goat was distracted by the food offering, Katherine reached under for the key around its neck when, BANG! A gunshot narrowly missed the goat and it reacted mercilessly, head butting Katherine off the ledge causing her to roll down the ledge six feet into the shallow water. Everyone whirled around to see Governor Ratcliff, Stinky Pete and twenty workers entering the spring clearing.

"That key will be mine," Ratcliff stated greedily, he then pointed at some of his lacky's and barked, "you men, go retrieve that goat, kill it if you must, just bring me the trinket around its neck, it's work far more than gold." His workers began to advance, and the goat began to flee. Everyone reacted quickly with Carter taking charge,

"Riley get the goat, Ben go help her and keep the miners away from her, I'll get Katherine." He didn't need to tell Woody and Jesse what to do for they had reacted before he could. Woody had reached for his lasso and began using it to loop around rocks to trip up Ratcliff's men, then with a flick of his wrist it released its hold from the rock and seemed to do his every will by next hooking onto tree branches and knocking more of Ratcliff's men unconscious.

Jesse used her charming yodel to get the critters and animals to fight on their side and began doing a square dance of a fight against the mountain men. She swung men around and threw them into one another before do-si-doing out of the way of the coyotes, rabbits, and other critters as they stampeded towards the next wave of attackers

Carter slid down the ledge ducking from shots fired in his direction. He reached the bottom splashing into the water and helped Katherine up,

"Kat, you okay?" She was soaked and grimaced; he could see her ankle was gashed open and bleeding.

"Stupid goat!" Katherine said sputtering as Carter helped her up,

"Can you walk?"

"Do I have a choice?" She retorted. Despite their situation he couldn't help but chuckle at her remark.

Riley tackled the goat who was unaffected by Jesse's yodel and yanked the key off as the goat bleated historically and kicking to get away. She rolled off and let go clutching her stomach where the goat had kicked her and was about to get up and run when her arm that held the key was grabbed by none other than Stinky Pete.

"Let it go and I will let you go," he threatened raising his pickaxe menacingly, "I don't like children, so I won't have any remorse for hurting you."

"Well that's good cause I won't have any remorse for hurting you!" Ben said as he leaped down from a higher ledge on top of Pete. He crumpled under Ben's weight crying out in anguish and releasing Riley's arm. Tinkerbell spun around Pete's eyes in a blur, flashing her lights brightly and causing him to be temporarily blinded. Ben hopped to his feet and extended his hand, catching Tink in his palm before grabbing Riley's hand.

"You Okay? Do you have the key?" Ben asked.

"Yes, to both, now let's go!" Riley shouted. Ben followed behind her.

Shots fired in their direction from the men around Ratcliff who shouted, "Shoot them you fools!"

They met up with Katherine and Carter near the entrance to another tunnel,

"This way!" Carter shouted.

Mushu jumped off yelling, "Go I'll only be a minute!" He breathed fire around the entrance, just after Woody and Jesse followed into the tunnel, preventing their pursuers from following. Their running was cut short by a heavy shaking that caused them to fall and a thunderous roar from the mountains.

"C'mon!" Woody and Jessie urged, "Keep Going!" They ran unsteadily through the tunnels as parts of rock fell from above. The tunnel continued to collapse behind them as they narrowly avoided being buried alive. They fell onto the ground outside the now collapsed tunnel and breathed heavily.

"Next time Tink, don't find the cave entrance," Ben heaved through gasps of breath. Tinkerbell slumped exhaustedly onto his head too tired to give a sassy remark.

Riley moved to her sister looking worriedly at her ankle, "Kitty are you okay?"

"I'm fine...are you okay? Did you get the key?" Riley pulled the little black box dangling from a string.

"What is it?" Carter said looking at it.

Riley opened it to reveal a wobbly compass that didn't seem to know where North was.

They gasped as recognition came to them, for in Riley's hand she held Jack Sparrow's compass.

 ** _Chapter 9: Castle of the Beast_**

The three of them stood there frozen, staring at the thugs in the tavern and the thugs in the tavern stared back. William muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "And this is why I didn't wanna come in here."

Ayden slowly touched their shoulders and started to walk backwards towards the door, afraid that if they made any sudden movements the ruffians would pounce. From behind them the door burst open as Gaston and his hunting party stepped in, "There they are Gaston! Just like you said they would be!" said LaFou.

"Hey!" Said a brute from one of the tables, he wore a helmet that completely covered his face and horns protruding from the sides. He stood up and took a step towards the door, "I thought we told you we didn't wanna see your face here again."

"No one tells Gaston where he can and can't go," argued a man with a blonde mop and stubby brown teeth. Another menacing looking man with the mustache stood up from a table, stepped forward, and raised his arm showing off not a clenched fist but a hook.

"I think we just did," he spat. The rest of the men in the bar stood up ready to brawl and grabbing their weapons to send a message. Although no one fights like Gaston, even he wasn't stupid enough to take on a tavern full of ruffians with only four men and himself. He glared at the three of them and threatened, "You May have gotten away for now but once I start a hunt, It doesn't end until I've caught my prey." He then turned to leave. Morph blew a raspberry at them as they exited. The kids huddled together in the corner by the door. The music began to play again, and the men went back to their business. The man with the hook hand approached and took them by surprise with a smile, "you kids okay?"

"I believe so," Archimedes answered.

"You hungry? I can have Attila bake you a quiche and serve it with some boar. Hey Attila! These kids could use some grub-"

"Wait, aren't you going to ruff us up a bit?" William asked flabbergasted.

The Hook-handed man looked at them and chuckled, "Nah, we are reformed gentleman now."

The three of them looked doubtfully out into the tavern, unmeasured by the body outlines, the brawling, and the man chained to a ball playing the accordion in the back of the room.

"Wait," Raven's eyes widened, "What's the name of this place?"

The hook hand thug said with pride, "Welcome to the Snuggly Duckling."

"I knew it!" Raven exclaimed excitedly.

"If you knew it then why did you ask?" William pointed out.

Raven ignored him and said enthusiastically, "Guys this is the place in Tangled that Rapunzel and Flynn got help from," she bent down to look at Zero, "You knew exactly where you were taking us didn't you? Good boy Zero!" Zero barked happily as Raven scratched behind his ghostly ears. Ayden looked at William, "see it's ok to put your trust in us."

"This place very easily could have been dangerous too Y'know," William argued heatedly.

"Alright, alright," the large man who had originally addressed Gaston approached. He looked a lot less scary wearing oven mits and holding a tray with mini quiches, "take a seat and eat up while it's hot." He indicated a table and they sat down and ate gratefully. When they had finished Hook hand prompted, "So where are you kiddies from?"

They each took turns telling part of the story and it didn't take long before everyone in the bar was gathered around listening to their story. Ayden set his bowl down and then finished with, "We now need to get to Belle's Library to try and find information on the keys and the gateways to get back home."

Morph took the opportunity to finish off Ayden's quiche. Ayden protesting, "Hey!" And tried to save his dish even though he was no longer hungry.

"That's not too far from here how's about we takes ya."

William shifted uncomfortably, and Raven squeezed his arm reassuringly, "That would be great, thank you. We wouldn't want to run into Gaston again on the road."

"Not to worry, we won't be using the road." Ayden stopped fending off Morph, and Morph seized it to finish the meal, "What do you mean? How else can we get to Beast's castle?"

Hook hand stood up and led them to the bar pushing one of the taps with a duck carving, "We'll be using the Utilidoors." A trap door opened revealing a secret tunnel.

"But doesn't that tunnel lead to a mid-evil construction site?" William protested. Hook hand ducked into the passage as the others followed with Attila and a funny smelling, short old man, with a sleepy expression. They entered the tunnel that was magically lit with glowing crystals all throughout the ceiling and walls. It was much larger than it first appeared, and they were able to walk with plenty of room to spare between them.

"In our movie it did, but here in Fantasmic it's a part of the underground passages that lead everywhere." Hook hand stopped to examine a carving on the wall which turned out to be a detailed map of the Utilidoors. He nodded and led the way down the passage.

"Everywhere here in the Fantasyland area?" William inquired.

"Everywhere to Everywhere," Attila replied.

"So, if we wanted to we could get to Tomorra land or Adventa land from here."

"But why do they exist?"

"They exist in Disney World because Walt once saw a cowboy walking through Tomorrowland and he felt it ruined the magic. They exist as a means of getting from one place to another without disrupting the magical illusion," Ayden informed.

"I understand that and why they were necessary in our world, but why are they necessary here? I mean what could anyone from Tomorrowland want or need from say Frontierland or Adventureland."

The short man asked in a slurred voice, "What are ya saying? That we're stupid?" He started wandering down a different tunnel absentmindedly. Hook hand hoisted him up by his trousers with his hook and brought him back to the right path. Morph shapeshifted to mimic him causing Ayden to chuckle.

"You'd be surprised kid," Hook hand began, "While we are allowed to travel anywhere we please. Some do it for leisure and sometimes we need to go to other lands for things. We make trips to Frontierland to get new weapons from the blacksmith or to get our old ones repaired."

"And yes William," Archimedes said fluttering in-front of him, "Tomorrowland does have use of the other lands. People make frequent trips to the city of Atlantis to purchase energy crystals to power vehicles, computers, and other such things. And the Jedi make trips to places like Adventureland for training of their apprentices." William nodded in understanding.

Raven sped up to walk beside Hook Hand with Zero whisking up from behind her, "So if you can travel freely then why have the utilidoors? Is it just a faster rout?"

Archimedes answering in an all-knowing voice, "Mr. Disney wanted them here, so he could travel throughout Fantasmic on private business without the Villains knowing where he was going."

They came to a stop in front of a door that didn't look like it belonged in the crystal cavern. It was an ornate vintage door decorated in elegant French designs. They turned the golden door handle and entered through a painting into what turned out to be a castle corridor. They closed the painting of a rose garden and made a mental note of it being an entrance to the Utilidoors.

"Which way to the Library?" Ayden asked.

"Wait! Shouldn't we make ourselves aware to the residents?" William stated.

"An excellent idea," Archimedes commended. They began to wander down the corridor looking for someone to inform them of their reason for being there; admiring the artwork lining the halls and decorating the ceiling as they went. They didn't travel very far before running into a tall lengthy man with yellow trousers and a poofy haircut.

"Sacleblur!" He jumped back not expecting to run into anyone, much less six people who did not live in the castle.

"Gazuntite," Shorty said blearily.

"Sorry for the intrusion Lumiere," Attila began, "we had to use the Utilidoors. We need to see Prince Adam and Princess Belle."

The man's shock turned into a welcoming demeanor as he spoke in a thick French accent, "But of course, guests are always welcome here. Although they usually arrive at the front door and usually we are prepared to welcome them. However, your use of the Utilidoors tells me this is urgent, so I shall take you to Prince Adam and Princess Belle at once."

They followed him through the castle into a smaller room with a large roaring fireplace and two chairs facing it. Lumiere motioned for them to wait by the door as he approached the chairs. He bent over and spoke in a mumble to one of them. Two people stood from the chairs and turned to face them. One was obviously Belle, and true to her name she was very beautiful in her green dress. The other was a tall man who was very handsome but looked as though he could carry a harsh temper. They could only assume the man was Prince Adam, formerly known as the Beast. He gazed at them for a moment before saying in a surprisingly kind voice,

"Lumiere, please see about some chairs and have Mrs. Potts bring us some tea. I would like to hear their story."

Once seats and tea had been brought for all of them, they told their story again as Belle and Adam listened intently. They were interrupted a couple of times by Shorty requesting more cookies to cover up the taste of tea, followed by him drinking more tea and complimenting Mrs. Potts on her brew. When they finished Belle said,

"It sounds as though you may need a place to stay in case your research takes more than one day," she looked at Adam, "We'll be sure to let Mrs. Potts know to prepare rooms for our guests." She then stood, and they stood as well and she smiled, "If you will follow me I will take you to my library."

 ** _Chapter 10: Guardian Abilities_**

They started blankly at the compass that continued to wobbly spin in various directions, rather than north.

"One down, one to go," Jiminy said.

"We should get back to Rainbow Ridge for the night and contact the others and let them know we found it," Carter suggested.

They agreed that was a good plan considering Katherine needed some medical attention to her ankle. Carter and Woody helped Katherine onto her horse and they road back to Rainbow Ridge. They all sat in their adjoining hotel rooms while Woody and Jessie went back to the station to check in on things with Tonto and the Lone Ranger. Riley helped her sister wrap up her ankle on the bed.

"Any suggestions as to how to get ahold of the others?" Ben asked bluntly, "Cause it's not like we can call or text since we don't have service here."

"Why not use Fly Paper?" Jiminy suggested.

"What's fly paper?" Katherine asked. He hopped off her shoulder and onto the bed getting into her supply bag Walt had given to them. He rummaged around for a minute before emerging with what looked like an ordinary note pad and a pen. "This is fly paper. You write your message then take the piece and fold it into a paper airplane and tell it who you want it to go to. From there it will fly to that person." Tinkerbell jingled approvingly.

"Is it safe?" Carter asked unsurely, "what if one of the villains intercepts it?"

"Old Walt thought of that when he came up with the idea," Mushu said reassuringly.

"You see mon," Sebastian said, "it can only be read by the person or people it's addressed to."

"If anyone else tries to read it it will just be a blank piece of paper to them," Mushu interjected. Tinkerbell rang again in agreement.

"Excellent!" Ben said enthusiastically said taking the pad and the pen. Carter took it from him, "Hey!" Ben protested.

"Sorry but we need them to be able to read the message and no offense but your handwriting sucks," Carter said.

"All boys handwriting sucks," Riley remarked, her sister gave her an attempt at a serious look but failed due to her trying to suppress a laugh, "What? It's true!" They all laughed at that. It felt good to laugh after the ordeal they went through at Big Thunder Mountain.

"Okay then you write it!" Carter said with a smile handing the paper and pen to Riley.

"We should write to Walt too," Katherine stated and they all agreed. Once the letters were written Riley handed the pages to Ben.

"Boys are better at making paper airplanes than girls though," Riley said humbly. Tinkerbell jingled as Ben took the pages and made two perfect airplanes. Carter opened the window to their room and Ben told one to go to Walt Disney and the other to Ayden, Raven, and William. The paper airplane notes sprang to life and flew off to be delivered. They watched them disappear in the distance then Ben said, "Now what?"

They sat there a moment looking from one to the other. They didn't know what to do now that they had succeeded in finding one of the keys but needed one more for them all to go home.

"I suppose we keep looking for another key?" Katherine said.

"We have no leads to go on, and we don't know what the key is..." Carter pointed out.

"Well what else should we do?"

Carter pondered this then sighed, "I dunno...maybe wait to hear from the others and see if they found anything out from Belle's Library."

"Maybe until then we can go exploring, Yakow? Look around, get our bearings so when they do find something...we know a little more about the area." They all agreed and after a meal at the Golden Horseshoe they made plans. They worked it out with Jessie and Woody to travel with Pearl Gesner. They would stay with her at her ranch, Patch of Heaven in the town of Tumbleweed. The next morning, they were getting ready to leave. The hotel manager saw to their clothes being cleaned before their travels. The short woman knocked on their door and entered, "Good morning!" She said in a cheerily southern accent, "I got all yer clothes laundered right here," she handed each of them their respective folds and then addressed Carter, "and I took the liberty of sewing up that holes in yer shirt there."

"What holes?" Carter asked confused.

She then showed him where the holes had been on the shirt and left to get some breakfast ready for their travels. The boys stepped out into the hallway to allow the girls to get dressed first. Carter stood there staring at the spots she indicated and wondered how they could have gotten there. Ben noticed this and asked, "you okay?"

Without looking up Carter replied, "Yeah, just trying to figure out how multiple holes could have happened without my noticing." He paused and looked up, "Mushu?"

Mushu slithered up to Carter's shoulder, "What's up man?"

"Can you think of anywhere holes could've gotten in my shirt?"

"Well yeah? When you were being shot at by those miners yesterday?"

Carter and Ben exchanged looks, "Mushu," Carter began, "don't you think I would've noticed if I had been shot multiple times?"

Tinkerbell made a chime that no translation was needed to understand it was a snort. Ben looked at her, "What's that supposed to mean?" The door opened, and Katherine and Riley stepped out, "all yours," Katherine offered. When she saw the looks on their faces she asked, "everything ok?"

They relayed what they just discussed back to them and they stood there puzzled. Sebastian broke the silence, "Isn't it obvious mon? Your bond is surfacing?"

When they still didn't understand Jiminy offered, "When a guardian builds a strong bond with their person abilities will start to surface."

"Abilities? You mean like powers?" Ben asked. Tinkerbell rang with the tone of "duh" in her chime, "There's no need to make me feel stupid Tink!"

"If we do get powers then why haven't we noticed them? Do we choose the power?" Riley asked Sebastian.

"De powers develop as your bond with your guardian grows. The powers derive from your guardian."

"Now that I think about it," Katherine said, "Ben you shouldn't have been able to make that jump when we were running from Alameda Slim."

Ben thought about this and said, "I was so concerned with trying to live and saving Tinkerbell... I dismissed it as an adrenaline rush."

"When we were at Big Thunder," Carter interrupted, "we were being shot at but Mushu and I had just worked on defusing those dynamite and I didn't feel the bullets?"

"That's right!" Mushu cockily stated, "like dragon scales your taking on dragon abilities."

They stood there amazed before Katherine said to Carter and Ben, "You two should get ready; I'm going to write another note to the others."

 ** _Chapter 11: Belle's Library_**

They enjoyed a musical dinner and a show with the Prince and Princess. Afterwards they followed Coggsworth, a portly man with a pointed mustache and a kind smile, to the rooms that had been arranged for them. Attila, Hook-Hand, And Shorty were in one room and Ayden, Raven, and William were in the room next door. They awoke the next morning to a wake up call by Mrs. Potts informing them that breakfast would be in an hour and they then proceeded to get ready and meet with their hosts downstairs. After another delicious meal they then followed Belle and Adam through the large castle. They were a bit slowed by Shorty wandering off and them having to go and retrieve him. They finally came to a large door and entered into a grand room. They were awestruck by the vast library they stood in. Along the back wall from floor to ceiling was a grand fireplace and two large windows that allowed the sun to shine in. The light shone on approximately four stories worth of books on all three of the other walls. They gaped in amazement and horror.

"Belle," Raven began, "This is amazing but where are we going to start in our research?"

"Not to worry," she answered, "Adam made sure that I could be directed to the right section depending on my reading mood." She smiled lovingly at Prince Adam and motioned for them to follow her to a desk. On it stood two things, a rose made from paper under a glass dome and a large open book with blank pages. She turned and held out her hand to William. He fidgeted and then obliged. She placed his hand on the book and said, "now think of what you want to look for."

The book lit up and similar to directions on an app a gold line traced its way on the floor, up the wall and highlighted a large section of books.

"What did you think of?" Ayden asked as he jogged over to the section.

"Anything about keystone the gateway between worlds," William answered following. Prince Adam stepped forward, "Well you have your starting point, I'll send someone to check in on you every hour Incase there is something you need." He held out his arm for Belle and they left the library leaving the group to start their research.

Ayden climbed the latter up to the section, "Hey Attila, can you take these?" He handed down book after book to the large man.

Over the next couple of days they researched for hours through different topics including: Disneyland, theme parks, portals, keys, gateways, crossovers. Though they were all diligently working, with the exception of Shorty who was more just making a mess by knocking over books, they found no new information. "When they said they wanted to keep these keys hidden they meant it," William stated after closing a large book. He looked over to his guardian perched on a pedestal looking at a book, "Have you found anything Archimedes?"

He hooted and replied, "I'm afraid not William." William mimicked Raven across from him who had her head down on top of an open book. Zero was curled up at her feet. Hook-Hand had found a music book and was playing Mozart at the piano in the corner and Attila was engrossed in a book on various cookie recipes. Shorty was swinging on one of the ladders and Ayden slumped back into his chair rubbing his face. Morph shapeshifted to mimick him and Ayden huffed a laugh. He stood up and stretched as the library door opened and Mrs Potts came in with a cart. "I hope your all hungry," she said in a sweet voice, "I made you all tea and cakes." They stood up and gathered at the cart taking their snack greatfully from her. She had made frequent visits to make sure they were catered to often. The first day she brought her tea and cakes, they were unsure about the tea since they didn't like it back home. But after some prompting they tried hers and fell in love with her brew. It had an uplifting flavor about it that hit the spot when they became frustrated or disheartened. Morph swooped by the plate of cakes and back to Ayden munching happily over his shoulder on the cake. Archimedes rested on Williams shoulder and took his tea first. And Shorty fwomped next to the cart asleep on the ground. Mrs. Potts poured more of them cups as she asked, "how's the work coming dears?" When she saw their crest fallen faces she smiled encouragingly and passed out saucers of tea, "it'll all turnout dears, just keep at it. Perhaps this will cheer you up." She handed Raven, William, and Ayden a paper airplane.

Hook-Hand and Attila looked at them and asked, "What's it say? Who's it from?" They took it curiously and read it, their expressions brightening as they did so.

"It's from the others!" Ayden blurted.

"They found the first key!" William exclaimed excitedly, they all urged him to quiet his tone before continuing.

Raven examined the letter with a concerned gaze, "it looks as though they aren't the only ones to have had some trouble, What with running into Alameda Slim, Stinky Pete, and Governor Ratcliff. They've had it worse than us, and Kat injured her ankle too."

Ayden interjected in a bright tone, "yeah but they have also gotten some help from Woody and Jessie, and found the key!" He read on before saying, "it looks like they are going to head to the next town over with some lady named Pearl Gesner, whoever that is and see if they can find anything else from where they are at."

"Who is Pearl Gesner?" Raven asked.

"Pearl Gesner, a character from Disney's Home on the Range, She was the elderly woman who ran the Ranch 'Patch of Heaven' that the main characters: Maggie, Grace and Mrs. Caloway, were trying to save," William stated mater of fairly. They looked at him dumbfounded. He looked back, "What?"

"You remembered that? I think I've only see the movie once if at all..." Ayden said.

"I haven't seen it at all," Raven admitted, "how many times have you seen it to remember that?"

"Once, in theaters when it first came out in 2004," William answered as he took a cake. They stopped again for a moment before Ayden asked slowly,

"William...you would've only been like 4, how can you remember that." Seeing their point he stopped too and pondered this. He shouldn't have been able to remember details like that so vividly and yet he did. How was this possible? Just at that moment another paper airplane flew into the room and hovered in front of Ayden. He took it and read what it said.

Then he looked at William, "I think I know how you were able to remember that." He then explained to him the contents of the letter explaining how they are developing powers with the bond of their guardians.

"So I'm developing some kind of super memory?" William inquired to Archimedes.

"It would seem," Archimedes replied, "and one of the more useful abilities in my opinion."

"Oh!" Raven exclaimed and they looked at her, "remember when we were running from Gaston? The root both you and Ayden tripped over?" They pondered this, as she knelt down beside Zero, "what if my powers are phasing, like how ghosts do?"

Hook-Hand looked at Ayden, "Then what's your power?"

Ayden thought about this, "I dunno? I don't think I have shown any signs of having any powers," he looked at Morph who belched satisfyingly, "must be some sort of shape shifting abilities." Raven moves over to Belle's desk and focused. She stepped forward and walked through the desk. Even though they knew that was her ability, watching her do it was still mind boggling.

"Haha!" Raven shouted and spun around enthusiastically. Shorty gurgled happily and also tried to walk through the table, running into it headlong and then fell back onto the floor dazed.

They froze not sure how to react other than panic, "Oooooh Nooooo, Shorty!" She said stopping down to sweep the glass into a pile, "I'm sorry Mrs. Potts!"

Mrs. Potts hurried over and knelt beside her, "Don't worry dear." She withdrew a small dustpan and brush from her apron and began to sweep up the shards of glass.

"Won't Prince Adam be angry?" William asked as he approached.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Potts assured, "even the prince knows accidents happen." She handed Raven the paper rose and smiled, "the Prince will understand, I'll explain what happened. For now you should get back to researching, I have to go and get supper started." She exited the room, leaving the tea cart and cakes for them. Raven looked embarrassingly at the paper rose. Embarrassment turned into curiosity as she looked at the rose. It had writing on it and her eyes widened as she began to carefully unfold the origami. Ayden hysterically began uttering, "What are you doing? We already broke their dome, now you wanna ruin the flower too?" Raven ignored him as he and William rushed forward to try and stop her, but by the time they reached her she had finished and were looking at what she was looking at. Somehow, as if by fate they had stumbled across another clue to one of the keys.

 ** _Chapter 12: Down Under_**

They had a chatty breakfast at the hotel and then gathered their things to go and meet Pearl Gesner. Outside was a stout, elderly woman wearing a sun hat and a cheerful smile.

"Well hi there," she said with a slight squeak to her voice, "I'm Pearl Gesner, but you can just call me Pearl. You kids ready to go?"

"Yup!" They all said.

"Alrighty, why don't you load up and we'll set off." They did so, and Pearl spoke not to them but to the three cows pulling the wagon.

"Okkie dokkie let's get this show on the road! Let's move it heifers!" Mushu exclaimed.

They looked at Pearl to see how she would react and when she broke out laughing, they all did too. One of the cows, a black and white one wearing a purple hat, looked back indignantly at Mushu.

"Oh come now, he's just playing Mrs. Caloway," Pearl said to her through her laughter, "let's go girls!"

They mooed happily in acknowledgement and they set off on a much more appreciated wagon ride then when rode the first time entering Frontierland. The weather was warm but not uncomfortable and they scenery transitioned from rocky, dry, dessert into more nature filled planes. Cactus', dirt, and shrubs became trees, grass, and bushes. They stopped for lunch around noon near a spring. Since they weren't in a rush Riley, Carter, and Ben all decided to go for a swim. They took turns jumping off the rock ledge into the water and the air became filled with their laughter and yelps of joy. Ben showed off his ability by jumping higher than the others. Sebastian thoroughly enjoyed being in the water and Mushu slithered around to jump up and scare people. Katherine sat on the bank with her feet in the water and watched while Jiminy and Tinkerbell sat on a rock nearby. Pearl unhooked the cows from the wagon to give them a break and let them graze.

One of her light brown cows began mooing dreadfully and Katherine couldn't help but ask, "is that one okay?"

"Grace is fine," Pearl said chuckling, then lowered her voice, "she is just a bit tone deaf."

Katherine nodded in understanding.

"About how far out are we?" Jiminy asked.

"Oh…I'd say we'll be there in about another hour," she looked up at the sky and Katherine followed her troubled gaze. When they had started traveling that day the sky had been clear. While it was still sunny there was significantly more clouds and by their dark color Katherine could tell they were holding a lot of rain.

Noticing just how green things were Katherine asked, "Are flash floods common here?" Jiminy and Tinkerbell both looked at Katherine then to Pearl.

Pearl looked back at her and put on a reassuring smile and opened her mouth to speak, but another scratchy voice filled the air,

"That they are missy."

They both jumped, the others who were swimming stopped and they whirled around as a shrill laugh filled their ears. Before them stood a leathery man, a gaudy woman, and a plump attendant in a cacky suit. But they were more concerned with the extremely large alligators standing at their feet being held back with leashes in the woman's hand.

"McLeach! Medusa!" Pearl yelled. Her cows, although only cows moved protectively towards Pearl, and the other guardians moved back to their charges.

"Stay out of this Pearl!" McLeach spat, "this'll be over quick so long as the kids cooperate and hand over the key."

"Why is it villains assume the heroes are just going to cooperate and give them what they want?" Mushu said quietly.

"Cause the villains usually have the upper hand," Ben remarked.

"Now come on my dears, give the key to auntie Medusa," Medusa cooed in an attempt to be sweet.

"Listen," Pearl said pointing at the dark clouds overhead, "that rainstorm isn't going to wait and-"

"Well then those kids need to hand it over fast," said the plump man.

"Snoops! Be quiet!" Medusa roared.

"Well then," McLeach said, "What's it gonna be?"

The wind kicked up and suddenly a bolt of lightning pierced a nearby tree. This provided the distraction they needed.

"Go!" Pearl shouted to them. They made a break for it and couldn't have been more motivated to run when Medusa shouted,

"Brutus! Nero! Bring them back boys!"

They dared not look back, they could feel their large bodies chasing after them as the rain started to come down. They kept running. Ben took bounding leaps forward and Riley had no problem keeping up due to being athletic back back home. Although Katharine's ankle wasn't fully healed the adrenaline rush kept her moving, numbing the pain. They could hear the gators growls getting closer behind as they ran. Running through a thicket of trees they were able to catch their breath and temporarily loose their toothy-grinned pursuers. The rain continued to steadily come down harder and faster and their feet were completely submerged.

"Why can't we catch a break from these guys!" Mushu complained.

"De betta question is, how are we gonna get out of dis?" Sebastian stated. Tinkerbell chimed and Ben nodded,

"We've got to get some legitimate distance like a canyon or something."

"We should get to higher ground," Jiminey suggested and they began to climb the trees. The climb was slow going due to the slippery ness of the mossy branches and their wet shoes. They finally reached a high enough level where the now rushing water was at least ten feet below. Hissing filled their ears as Nero and Brutus swam through the water below. They held their breath and tried not to move lest they be seen. The wind whistled and blew but the gators grumbles could still be discerned from below. After the longest two minutes of their lives the pair of reptiles slithered through the water to continue their search elsewhere. And they all breathed.

"Now what do we do?" Riley asked.

"Find somewhere we can dry off and take shelter," Carter stated matter of factly.

"Thats great, but how? The water is moving too fast for us to swim, not that I'd want to with Nero and Brutus still down there, and I don't think this will let up for at least another hour," Katherine voiced through the winds shouts. Jiminey wrestled himself into Katherine's bag and brought out a tan rectangular package.

"What's that?" Ben asked.

Jiminy pulled a string and it instantly inflated a raft. They all were surprised for a moment but another flash of lightning and crack of thunder brought them back to their situation.

Carter took momentary charge as he said, "Get in!"

They hurriedly hopped into the raft and used their body weight to thrust the raft out of the tree and into the water bellow. They bumped into several trees as the water carried them forward.

"Some ores or paddles would be helpful," Mushu complained. Tinkerbell chimed and darted into Katherine's bag and piped out with two tiny ores perfect for her size and thrusted them into Ben's hand. They magically adjusted to his size and said

"You mean like these?"

Mushu looked at Jiminy and said over the rushing water, "you didn't think to bring those out with the raft?"

"You didn't think to bring out either mon," Sebastian chastised. Carter and Katherine took the ores from Ben and began working on giving the raft some direction. They weaved in and out through the trees as the water directed them into an actual river rushing with rapids. They hit a hard bump and they were unseated from the raft. Ben shouted in alarm and Carter and Katherine turned to see what he was worried about. Katherine screamed in alarm as she realized her sister was no longer in the raft.

"Riley! Riley!" Katherine abandoned her ore and frantically began looking for her sister as they continued down the river. But it was no use with the rushing water and the rainstorm they didn't have a chance of finding her in this.

Riley was holding her breath desperately trying to swim up to get some air, but the rapids were strong and kept pushing her down tumbling her this way and that under its surface. Her lungs began to burn with the lack of oxygen and she was scared. She no longer knew which way was the surface. She couldn't take it anymore she had to take a breath. And so she did. She opened her eyes in absolute shock as she remained under the water and yet she was breathing as if she weren't. She looked around and saw Sebastian hanging on to her clothes and then it hit her, this is what her ability was, she brought Sebastian closer to her and now able to focus she swam through with the current to shore and resurfaced. Crawling up the bank she asked, "Sebastian are you okay?"

"De betta question is are you?" He sputtered.

"Yeah thanks to you," she smiled.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that missy," said a nasal voice. Riley looked up and with dread saw McLeach, Medusa, and Mr. Snoops.

 ** _Chapter 13: The Second Clue_**

"Well? What does it say?" Ayden pressed as Raven read the page. She looked up at Attila and Hook Hand,

"Could you guys please check the library...make sure it's safe to read this aloud?" They nodded and did a sweep of the room. Archimedes perched on William's shoulder commented,

"Excellent thinking."

When Hook Hand and Attila came back over she cleared her throat and read,

 ** _"_** ** _Come, Curious, Caterpillars, Come, to the Fabled Far away land, where Flowers can sing, and minds are Fickle; where earl Grey is the Cleansing Cup of Choice, and not at all Chicle. Redouble your steps lest you become All but lost in this Confusing, Confounding, Curiouser and Curiouser Country."_**

"Well that sounds like Wonderland," William said excitedly.

"So we know where the next key is! Let's go!" Ayden jovially said looking at Attila and Hook hand, "you guys know how to get to Wonderland?"

"Well of course," Hook hand started, "which part did you wanna go to?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Wonderland is one of the largest parts here in Fantasyland. You've got the bizarre room, Tulgey Wood, garden grove-"

"If you don't know where your looking," Attila interrupted, "you could be looking for months."

"Months?" All three kids groaned.

"There has to be an indication as to where we need to look for the key..." William muttered taking the clue from Raven and pouring over it, "it mentions caterpillars and flowers, so maybe we need to look where the singing flowers and the caterpillar would be."

Ayden read the clue over his shoulder and said,

"Yeah but it also mentions earl grey, like the tea, so it could be the Madd Hatter's place?"

"Alice became lost in Tulgy wood though, and it says something about being lost so maybe it's in there among the crazy animal things," Raven suggested.

They went back and forth over the letter for an hour coming up with possible locations, repeating ideas, arguing and by the end of it all their brains were hurting from the excessive thinking. Even more frustrating was the fact that they didn't even know what form the key took so even if they narrowed it down to a location they didn't know what they were looking for. They eventually decided to look at it with fresh eyes later after a hot meal and good rest. They ate with Belle and Adam informing them of their discovery and apologizing for the damages.

"Oh don't worry," Adam said in a forgiving voice, "the thing is I really don't know how that came into my possession but it wasn't by chance."

"You mean because of us being here now?" William inquired.

"Well that, but also our castle here is enchanted."

"I thought the enchantment was broken when the spell over you broke?" Ayden curiously stated before quickly returning to his meal so Morph didn't try and finish it before him.

Belle wiped the corners of her mouth then replied, "the curse was broken yes but the castle is still enchanted with a protective barrier to ward off uninvited guests."

"More grey stuff please," Shorty requested through slurs.

"But then how were we able to get in when we weren't invited?"

"Fantasmic must've wanted you to come here and find that clue regardless of our barrier," Belle said with a thoughtful smile at Adam, "If you don't mind, may I look at the riddle?"

William pulled it out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it and read it quietly for a few minutes the only sound being Morph and Shorty noisily eating.

"Well Wonderland is definitely your location, and the preciseness of that location must be in this clue...perhaps it's trying to mislead you with these mentions of caterpillars, tea, and singing flowers and it's really none of these places in Wonderland."

"We hadn't considered that..." Raven admitted.

"The thought did cross my mind," Archimedes claimed.

"Oh really? Then why didn't you say anything earlier?" Ayden argued.

Archimedes hooted indignantly and puffed up his feathers in embarrassment.

The next day they all woke early and asked Mrs. Potts to have their breakfast served in the library so they could get straight to work. As they ate they continued to work on the riddle with fresh eyes. They found a map of Wonderland in the Library and unfurled it on Belle's desk. "If we take Belle's suggestion that the clue is trying to mislead us with these three locations..." Ayden began making chicken scratch notes on a separate piece of paper, "that only leaves the rest of Wonderland for us to search."

Morph shape-shifted into a miniature white rabbit running around the map and then into a miniature Alice also running around the map. Shorty attempted to climb onto the table and do a hokey pokey dance but Attila picked him up and threw him onto the chair where he mindlessly began singing. Over Shorty's terrible voice, Hookhand looked at the clue and chuckled,

"Y'know it's kinda funny, but this "R" here kinda looks like the repeat symbol in music."

William had been skimming through the book of Alice in Wonderland and looked up suddenly and moved closer to Hook hand to look at the clue as well, "What did you say?"

"Well if you look here with the double lines and the two dots here..."

"Ayden! Hookhand!" William exclaimed and awkwardly went to bring them both over to the piano and looked at them expectantly with the others following behind. Shorty went to follow and merely fell from the chair. They gathered around the piano but they didn't comprehend what William was trying to show them he then explained, "don't piano notes have letters that represent them?"

"Yeah so?" Ayden said still not comprehending.

"Well if you look at the letters here," William then pointed to the clue, " these letters are capitalized!" Hookhand and Ayden's eyes widened in understanding.

"So the letters read, C-C-C-C-F-F-F-F-G-C-C-C-C, Redouble is synonym for repeat..."

"So we would repeat this first section here and add these notes A-C-C-C-C-C," Ayden finished cutting William off. He then took the clue from William and turned to talk to Hookhand, "But there are four C's here and five C's here...so that must be symbolic for C4 and C5."

"What about these F's?" Hookhand observes, "Do you think they represent F4?"

"Let's play and find out." Together they played the notes and with trial and error played a familiar melody.

"What Song is that?" Raven asked.

"'Painting the Roses Red,' from Alice in Wonderland," William uttered, and when they looked at him he explained, "I heard it once when I was 2 while my Nana was watching me."

Although they had solved the riddle they all had a sickening feeling in the pit of their stomaches as Morph shapeshifted into the Queen of Hearts saying "off with their heads, off with their heads!"

"So the second key is in the Queen of Hearts rose garden...?" Raven said uncomfortably. Zero nudged up against her in encouragement. Archimedes picked up the clue with one of his feet and added,

"Since this clue was in the shape of a rose we should have know just as much."

"Actually Archimedes, I think the Rose was a hint as to what we are looking for?" Ayden corrected. William nodded in agreement,

"Since the clue was folded in the shape of a rose and found here in Beast's castle AND it's in the Queen of Hearts rose garden, it must be the enchanted Rose from Beauty and the Beast."

"Very good points," Archimedes said to William. His tone suggested he didn't like to be outthought but his expression was genuine pride in William.

"Well I guess someone better write a message to Walt and the others...cause we're about to head down the rabbit hole,". Raven said.

"Really Rae?" Ayden said at the ridiculousness of the analogy as morph mimicked what she had said.

 ** _Chapter 14: Peruvian Reino_**

Carter called out to Ben through the rain and wind, "Ben help me get the raft to a bank!"

Ben crawled over Katherine who was still frantically looking and calling out for her sister. He grabbed her discarded ore and began to help Carter fight against the current and rapids; in an attempt to guide the raft somewhere to be parked. They saw their hope up ahead and veered right for it. They slammed into a large tree root that groaned from the weight of their raft. Ben and Carter used it to push the boat up onto the muddy shore as quickly as they could. Katherine's hysteria continued, and she began to cry hot salty tears. Ben and Carter heaved and struggled not to slip in the mud to pull the boat up enough into the bank, so their boat wouldn't drift out. Katherine climbed out of the raft and trudged into the water deeper and deeper calling for Riley. Carter quickly sloshed through the water and pulled her back. She resisted and yelled, "let me go! I have to find her." He took her firmly by the shoulders, turned her around and hugged her close to him to keep her from running out into the still rushing river. Under different circumstances she would happily enjoy being held so close by him but now she continued to try and push away but had little to no luck and so she sobbed, "I should've kept better watch of her...what am I going to tell my mom? W-we have to find her."

"Kat," Carter said in a tender voice, not looking at her, "we will find her, but we don't stand a chance right now."

Ben stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do. He also felt guilty for not keeping Riley in the raft. Clenching his fists, he grimaced and hung his head. Even Mushu stayed quiet. None of them knew how long they stood there: Ben in his regret, Katherine in her guilt, and Carter thinking of what they needed to do next. Carter finally broke their unspoken silence and looked at Katherine, "we can't stay here, we need to find somewhere to make a plan"

"But what about my sister?"

Jiminy spoke gently, "Riley is smart and resourceful just like you, and Sebastian is there with her too."

"She probably got out of the river at a different bank, we'll find her, I promise," Carter reassured.

Katherine sniffed again and could feel her brain and body begin to go numb; but from the cold or from being overwhelmed she couldn't tell. Carter turned to Ben and said, "Ben, can you scout ahead and look for a place we can collect ourselves?" Ben looked up, nodded and set off. While he was gone the rain had begun to let up significantly. Carter and Mushu condensed the raft. By the time Carter had finished getting the raft put away Ben had returned.

"That didn't take long," Mushu said.

"I found a restaurant just ahead," Ben replied. Tinkerbell chimed indignantly and pinched him, "OUCH! Okay, okay...YOU found it, happy?"

Tinkerbell crosses her arms and turned her back to him.

"A restaurant in the middle of the jungle?" Carter said skeptically, "that seems oddly convenient."

"Yeah…I know but point is, is that it's there so do we take it or leave it?" Ben stated bluntly.

Carter looked over towards Katherine, "we'll take it."

Ben asked quietly, "Is she gonna be okay?"

"She feels responsible for her sister being lost…how would you be if that happened to Troy?" Carter responded without looking at him, "and honestly I would probably wouldn't be any better if I were her and Riley were you." Carter rounded up their stuff and guided Katherine behind Ben to a surprisingly well-built restaurant indeed in the middle of the jungle. Its windows were brightly shinning windows and an aroma emanating from it that made their mouths water. Near the entrance was a sign that read "no llamas allowed". They entered the warm café and found an open table.

No sooner had they did a tall very broad-shouldered man approached wearing what looked like a purple skirt. Although he looked big and strong enough to lift a horse his demeanor was surprisingly friendly.

"What'll it be folks?" He asked in a deep voice.

"Uhm," Ben and Carter said as they looked at each other unsurely. Even though they had stopped for lunch with Pearl not long before, they were tired from the adrenaline rush and didn't know when they would happen upon food again.

"Something to warm us up please," Carter said. Even though it was humid they couldn't help but shiver from being soaked to the bone.

"I'll gettchya covered with my world famous spinach puffs, I've got a batch of them coming out here in just a minute," the man said as he whisked away to the kitchens. As he walked one of the other customers called out to him,

"Hey Kronk, how about putting me down for a couple more of those too!"

"Sure thing Rudy!" Kronk said before ducking into the kitchens. They sat there quietly in their wet clothes and Carter took the opportunity to start writing a letter to the others. Kronk returned with their food that smelled delicious. They all began to eat, except Katherine who just sat there staring at nothing. She wasn't hungry and although she should be she wasn't cold from her wet clothes. She just felt numb. How could she let this happen? As her big sister she has always been protective over Riley and now that she was missing Katherine was just expected to be okay and eat? Jiminy hopped in front of her and put gently,

"You can't help your sister if you don't help yourself."

Katherine blinked and nodded. He was right, if she wanted to help Riley she couldn't neglect her own health; so taking a plate for herself she began eating slowly. They finished their first round of spinach puffs in no time and ordered a second. They could hear the rain had stopped completely from outside. Kronk came over a bit later to see how they were doing and if they needed anything else.

"Yeah, could tell us where we are?" Ben inquired.

"The Peruvian Reino part of Adventureland," Kronk answered, then stared blankly, "you guys aren't from around here."

"Is it that obvious?" Mushu asked sarcastically.

Ignoring him Kronk offered, "if you want to check out the room upstairs we have a trunk full extra clothes you could change into to get out of those wet ones, I'm sure there is something close to your sizes." Tinkerbell jingled, and Ben asked,

"Why do you have a trunk full of clothes?"

"You got me there, by all accounts it doesn't make sense," Kronk put simply and laughed.

"Best not question the convenience, just accept it," Mushu suggested.

Although it was strange getting clothes from a restaurant they didn't complain as they found various Adventureland attire and changed from their wet clothes into dry ones. Katherine took the time to find clothes in Riley's size too for when they found her. Katherine took a deep shuttering breath to prevent herself from crying again and followed the others downstairs. Ben and Carter were paying for their meal and tried to pay extra for the clothes but Kronk would not have it. They thanked him and left the restaurant, following his directions to the local village. Kronk told them the Ucayali river merged to the river crossroads there, and they decided to see if Riley washed up there or if they could find information to find her. They walked along the river's edge, just In case, looking for any sign of Riley. They arrived after about half an hour of treading through the thick jungle and emerged into a partially tribal partially 1920s British village settlement that was bustling with people and activity. As they wandered they saw people trading goods at stalls, half-dressed children were happily running through the crowds of people, and the source of the hustle and bustle the docks. The docks looked similar to that of the Jungle Cruise docks you could board in Disneyland but were on a much larger scale. Passengers disembarked off some of the vessels while their skippers wished them well. Other boats were being loaded and unloaded with cargo to be sold elsewhere or carrying supplies for the village. Mushu inhaled deeply and smacked his lips saying,

"MmmMmm! Something sure does smell good."

"Mushu we just ate at Kronk's," Carter chastised.

"No, no," Ben began, "I know what he means."

"We don't have time for distractions," Carter insisted, "we have to keep looking for Riley."

"Right. Okay," Ben and Mushu agreed. Katherine turned away looking through the crowds of people being silently grateful that Carter said something. They approached a large man wearing a green poncho, standing next to a llama cart.

"Excuse me?" Katherine address the large man.

He turned around and gave them a friendly smile. Jiminy jumped and Tinkerbell chimed.

"It's Patcha!" Jiminy stated.

"Hi there folks, what can I do for ya," Patcha said kindly.

Tinkerbell began jingling and Ben interrupted, "Ah Tink maybe someone else should explain."

She huffed and crossed her arms in agitat. Katherine addressed Patcha again,

"We were wondering where we might get some information around here? You see we were separated from my sister on the river and need to find her."

"Hmm," Patcha pondered while scratching his head, "well If you want information you should talk to either Sallah, but he is on a portage this part of the week, so your next best bet would be José Carioca."

He led them to a stall where a green parrot in a cacky coat and smoking a cigar. He looked up and greated with a heavy Brazilian accent,

"Óla Patcha! Como posso ajudá-lo? How may I help you?"

"Uh, hablerno eenglas?" Ben said in a very poor attempt of asking the bird to speak English.

"Ah, you are American no?"

"Yes!" They all said, Patcha addressed him again,

"Zé, they are looking for someone they were separated from in the river has a young girl been found along the river?"

"She is about this tall, brown hair wearing a shirt with Ariel on it and traveling with Sebastian the crab!" Katherine said quickly to the José.

"Oh, no siñorita, no one with that description has come to the village." Her shoulders slumped and she looked down discouraged.

"However," José said causing her to to look up, "you could always take a Tramp steamer at the Jungle Navigation Company docs, and ride while searching along the river for signs of your missing amigo."

"Let's go!" Katherine said taking off in the direction of the docs. They thanked Patcha and José before running after her.

They talked with the port master and booked a ride on the Amazon Belle for the next day. Carter sent two fly papers off to the Pearl Gesner and the others at Belle's Library to inform them that they needed to find Riley.

 ** _Chapter 15: Council Meeting_**

Maleficent sat in her throne, stroking Diablo's head lazily, her eyes blazing at the scene before her. In front of her sat other thrones. which were occupied by Darth Vader, Loki, Ursula, Hades, Captain Hook, Oogie Boogie, Jafar and many other higher ranked villains. They stared unhappily at the group in the center of the thrones, consisting of Governor Ratcliff, Alameda Slim, and Stinky Pete.

"You failed to collect the children and the key," Vader breathed menacingly.

"B-but you see, they had help from that sheriff flunky and-," they all began.

"Enough!" Vader bellowed, the group flinched as he stood quickly. The stone floor below him cracked around his feet from the force of his rage.

"I think they need to think about their failure in the Underworlds dungeons," Hades proposed, he gestured his hand lazily in the air. Suddenly a black vortex opened below the cowering group, and they disappeared in a haze of screams. No sooner had they disappeared when green flames appeared in the center of the room and shadowy silhouettes of McLeach and Medusa appeared.

"What news do you have?" Maleficent inquired.

"We have captured one of them, the youngest one it looks like," McLeach spat.

"Finally, some competence," Loki sighed, grinning from ear to ear.

"We plan to use her to lure the others to the temple of the forbidden eye," McLeach continued.

"The temple of the forbidden eye! More like the temple of death traps! Haha now that's my kind of place," Oogie Boogie jabbered while tossing a pair of dice in his hand stub.

"Blithering bilge rats," Hook spat, swinging his hooked hand through the air, "once you have the key you can dispose of the lot of them."

"Hahaha," Ursula cackled, her tentacles dancing about her in annoyance, "that is if they cooperate, but heroes rarely ever do."

"Perhaps," Vader proposed, taking a few steps towards Malefacent, "this would be a perfect opportunity to dispatch our newest agents," She considered him for a moment, tapping her staff with her sharp finger nails. After a few moments, she spoke loudly and decisively.

"Very well," Maleficent extended her arm sending Diablo flying away into the darkness, "Do we have any news on the others at the Beast's castle?"

"That hunter took a gamble and lost them," Dr. Facilier divulged in a bored voice while sifting through his cards. "they are now hiding out in the protected walls of Beasts Castle."

"No matter," Jafar hissed, slamming his snake staff into the ground to command silence, "they have to emerge sooner or later and when they do we shall have all the children. I'm sure Mr. Disney wouldn't want any harm to come to them and so we can exploit this weakness."

"You have your orders, now go!" Maleficent barked to McLeach. Flames erupted around him and Medusa, and they disappeared with the fire.

 ** _Chapter 16: Way to Wonderland_**

They went to Adam and Belle's study and relayed the information they learned. Hook-hand, Attila, and Shorty had listened for a while to the story relay before they had dozed in the corner of the study in disunified snores. Once they had finished, Prince Adam left the room to make the necessary arrangements to have supply bags made up for them; to prepare them for what awaits in Wonderland. While Adam took care of the provisions Belle had left the room and returned with what looked like a rolled-up napkin.

"What's that?" William inquired.

"This was a given to Adam and I as a gift for our wedding, it is a map that will lead you to Wonderland."

Shorty mumbled the wedding march in his sleep before rolling over and going back to snoring. They laughed at his goofy behavior before Raven said,

"But we found a map in your library to use."

Belle smiled thoughtfully before informing, "Wonderland is a very special part of Fantasyland. You see, while it always exists here, and it is one of the largest parts of Fantasyland, it is not a place you can merely take a carriage to. There are three ways to enter Wonderland: Through a looking glass, by sailing there through the Curious Channel, and of course down the rabbit hole." She took a moment to unfurl what wasn't a napkin but a tea cloth with embroidery that formed a map of Fantasyland. The dainty embroidery showed the beautiful castles and landscapes from the waterways to north and the forest edges leading off in the other three directions towards: Main Street, Tomorrowland, and Frontierland. The detail was so fine that in the light it almost appeared that the trees were swaying gently in the wind and the water was glistening. She then continued, "the maps in the library and anywhere else in Fantasyland will lead you to the looking glasses or the safest route through the Curious Channel. This was a special gift from the Enchantress at Adam's and my wedding, it is a map that will lead you to the Rabbit Hole. The Rabbit hole is the safest and most efficient way to Wonderland."

"Why-Morph stop for a sec will ya?" Morph had shifted into the animals and was imitating the animals doing the caucus race around his head. Ayden waved him away and he giggled madly, causing Attila and Hook-hand to snort loudly before returning to soft snoozing. Once it had quieted Ayden tried again, "Why is that?"

Archimedes fluttered from William's shoulder to the table in the center of the group and spoke in a very superior manner, "Ahem, you see, the looking glass can transport you to anywhere in Wonderland."

"So? Sounds like something we should use," Raven argued, "it could take us straight to the Rose Garden a-"

"Or it could land you straight in the Queen of Hearts court," Archimedes countered. Raven hadn't thought of that, "You can't choose where the looking glass takes you, the channel will take you to the Caucus race beach which is quite far from the Queen of Heart's rose garden it can also take anywhere from a couple of hours to a week to navigate through the channel."

"So…the rabbit hole then?" Raven said looking at the tea cloth map.

Belle smiled and continued, "The Rabbit Hole is the fastest and the safest way to wonderland because it will always take you to the White Rabbit's house, it is tricky though it is never in the same place twice and it doesn't stay there for more than a day. But this map, can lead you to where its current location is." She then pointed down onto the embroidery map and they followed her finger that pointed to a glowing dot on the map. William cocked his head and furrowed his brow.

"Technical question; where is that?"

Belle's smile fell, and she bit her thumb. Archimedes arched his neck to see too and hooted uncomfortably. Adam returned to the study carrying three knapsacks, "I had Mrs. Potts make some 'drink me' potion and Upelkuchens treats. Just be sure that you watch the amount you consume..." his voice trailed off at the look on his wife's face, "Belle what is it?"

"the rabbit hole, its near Gaston's Tavern and hunting lodge."

"How near?" Ayden asked looking over the map. Adam looked down and his brow furrowed too. Adam set the knapsacks down and leaned over the map as well huffing heavily,

"Well…it's not in the courtyard, but it is on the edge of the forest nearby. If someone looks through the window of the tavern or is leaving town you will be spotted...and everyone there thinks of Gaston as a hero," He paused for a moment before saying, "You could always just wait for the location to change."

The three of them exchanged very serious looks. But before any of them could answer a paper airplane flew in from the open window. Raven made to catch it but it flew right through the palm of her hand.

"Ack!" She exclaimed. Her exclamation caused Attila and Hook-hand to jerk awake sputtering

"What! Who is it? Whassa matter? OOFF!"

William, Morph, Zero and Ayden all chased the letter around the room for a moment trumping over the three thugs. William lost his footing and fell to the floor. Ayden continued to peruse it and in one large bound he caught it,

"Gotchya!"

They took a moment to settle down and catch their breath. Attila and Hook-hand stood to collect themselves while Shorty remained Raven looked down at her hand and massaged it gently. Even though she was aware of her newfound ability with her bond to Zero, it caught her off guard to see the note fly through her hand like that. Zero barked reassuringly at her and she smiled weakly.

He unfolded it and read, as he did so his expression went from the triumph of catching the note to concern.

"Ayden, what is it?" Raven asked still rubbing her hand to reassure herself that it indeed was there.

"Riley has been separated from the group..."

"What!" They all said.

"Was she kidnapped?" Adam asked.

"It says they were on the run from Medusa and McLeach in a flash flood and she got swept from their raft."

"Do they want us to go help them?" William asked.

"It doesn't say that, but even if it did, I don't know what we can do," Ayden replies while wiping his mouth. Adam put protective hands on Belle's shoulders. She touched his hand and offered,

"If you need to go to your friends we can arrange means for you to get to them quickly."

Another long moment passed as they pondered what to do. The only sounds were Shorty muttering in his sleep. It was William to break the pensive silence, "I think...that we should go retrieve the key and once we get it, if Riley is still separated we can bring the key back here to the castle where it will be safe under the protective seal or even arrange to leave it in the sorcerer's workshop..." he began to ramble on and Ayden had to stop him through mid-rambling to get him back on topic, "oh right...but, if she is found then we can arrange to meet up with them and Mr. Disney to get back home, however we do that and..." he began to ramble again and it was Archimedes this time who fluttered to him and cleared his throat. William got the message and calmed down. Raven and Ayden were a bit surprised by this because when William got worked up he could be challenging to calm down unless people he completely trusts are there to do so. They had known William for a couple of years in their community theater group and he didn't become comfortable with them until a few months ago when they were working on a scene together with a couple of other members of the theater group.

They all looked around for a minute to assess where they were. They were on the side of a cobblestone road that oddly looked like an intersection with no stoplight. Just a wishing well in the center with wildflowers surrounding it and a crossroads sign that indicated "Diamond Mines, Cinderella & Prince Charming Castle, Forbidden Mountain, Matterhorn, Corona, the Snuggly Duckling, Everest, China Palace, Enchanted Gardens, Prince Adam & Belle's Castle, Provincial Village," all on signs on a post pointing in various directions, that stood in the center of the well.

"Well that's convenient," Raven said happily.

"Are all of these places really here in Fantasyland?" Ayden questioned as he moved closer to the sign to see all the destinations.

"Oh yea," Attila began, "there are lots more places here too, these are just some of the nearer ones to this spot."

They took this in and stood there marveling at just how vast Fantasmic really was. Even though they had traveled to some places in Fantasyland they hadn't stopped to think just how many places fall into the fantasy umbrella in the Disney-verse.

"Looks like we need to go...that way," William said pointing to the road on the right of the one they had come from.

"Onward!" Shorty exclaimed and began walking off to the left.

"I still don't see why this one had to come along," Archimedes said as he swooped over to Shorty grabbed his hair and spun him around to continue walking, now in the correct direction.

They walked about 15 yards before coming to another fork to which they continued down the right. When they saw the village in the distance they veered off the path and pulled out the tea cloth map. They cautiously wandered through the trees getting closer and closer to the village. They could now hear sounds of the locals. But it was the sound of a gunshot that made them all freeze.

Instinctively they all dropped to the ground and army crawled behind some trees; that is all except Shorty who instead yelled as if he had been shot to which Ayden jumped and tackled him to the ground covering his mouth to quite him. Then dragged him behind a tree. Shorty drooled onto Ayden's hand and Ayden resisted removing it In case he started making a commotion again. They sat quietly listening to see if anyone had heard Shorty's outburst. They could hear people cheering for Gaston and they hid behind some trees; it seemed that no one had heard them.

Attila and Hook-hand peered around the trees and could see between the village houses and shops the people revering in Gaston's presence as they followed him into the Tavern. Once the cheering had died away and the sounds had returned to a collaboration of Forrest noises and village sounds; Attila motioned to the others that it was safe to come out but to keep quiet so as not to draw unwanted attention to themselves. Ayden released Shorty to which he began babbling Unphased as to what just happened, and Ayden wipes his hand off on his shorts disgusted,

"Let's find the rabbit hole quickly before it changes locations."

"Or before we are discovered," William said uncertainly.

It was 11:55 and according to the map they were very close to the rabbit hole. They were becoming a bit frantic in their search though because Prince Adam had informed them that the rabbit hole changes location at high noon every day, so they had 5 minutes to find it before it moved to possibly the opposite side of Fantasyland. Their search was occasionally hindered every time a loud sound came from the village and they jumped at the prospect of being caught.

It was now 11:58 and Raven and Ayden were now hovering over William's shoulder. Archimedes perched on top of Williams head and craned his neck down towards the map, "Are you sure it's here boy?"

"Yes!" William said exasperatedly. Zero barked trying to get Raven's attention and Morph jibber-jabbered to try and get Ayden's.

"In a minute Morph," Ayden insisted nervously.

"Zero shh!" Raven hushed, "William we are going to miss it." They followed Williams steps as he brought the map closer and closer to his face, "I don't understand it should be right-" but William didn't get to finish his thought as he was cut off by his own screams as well as Raven and Ayden's as they fell down the rabbit hole. Leaving Attila, Hook-hand and Shorty behind for just after they fell through the time became 12:00 and the rabbit hole was no longer there.

 ** _Chapter 17: Jungle Cruise_**

Katherine and Carter fell asleep sitting up on the bench while Ben sprawled out on the planked floor. Carter awoke with a start and assumed it was due to his neck hurting. He wiped his face and noticed Katherine was still asleep but was leaning against him. He could feel his cheeks grow warm. Katherine yawned stretched and sat up blinking sleepily unaware that she had be cuddled up to Carter.

"What time is it?" She asked looking at the minimal light from outside. Jiminy pulled out his pocket watch and spoke sleepily,

"It's about six AM, our boat isn't scheduled to leave for another hour."

"Okay then I'll go get us some breakfast, you wanna wake Ben?"

Katherine left and returned not long later with three mangos and a loaf of bread.

An hour passed, and they stood on the docs as a riverboat pulled up being driven by a young woman in a yellow frock and safari hat.

"Hello there, I'm Jane Porter and I'll be your skipper today," she greeted in a British accent, "so your traveling for leisure today?"

"Actually, we are looking for someone who we were separated from."

"Oh…I see. Well since that's the case we'll start up the Amazon and make our way through to the Nile, hopefully we can find your friend."

Before she started the boat, a paper airplane flew into Mushu knocking him over.

"OOFF, really!? Come on!" Mushu complained. Carter took the letter reading it. He brow furrowed as he read and looked up at his friends.

"Is it word from the others?" Katherine asked.

"It's word about your sister..."

"What!" They all exclaimed. Katherine lunges for the letter but Carter shifted so she couldn't grab it. He didn't want to tell her the contents but knew he had no choice.

"She's being held hostage by McLeach and Medusa in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye." Katherine felt a sour knot form in her stomach. The Temple of the Forbidden Eye was a thrilling ride in Disneyland, but she didn't like the idea of going to it here and hated the thought even more that her sister was being held hostage there, "they write 'if we want her back we need to bring the key for an exchange.'"

"They'll never honor that trade," Jiminy states hoping onto Carter's shoulder and reading the letter for himself.

"No..." Jane agreed, "and the temple of the forbidden eye is dangerous, you will need a guide. I can take you to Dr. Jones' encampment. He would be able to help you through the temple and rescue your friend."

"Are you talking about _THE_ Indiana Jones?" Ben asked excitedly, "woohoo let's go!"

"So long as we get Riley back I'll do whatever it takes. But we have to have a plan 'cause we can't let them have the key either," Katherine said with determination.

"Glad to see your thinking with a clear head," Jiminy commented hopping onto her shoulder.

"If I don't then we will fail, and where my sister is concerned failure isn't an option. So let's go."

They began their cruise up the Amazon River while Jane pointed out various animals and sights on their way. They saw elephants bathing, Sam's trading post, supersized butterflies and other boats going the opposite direction. Jane informed them about the scenery, the river transitions, and told ridiculous jokes that they gave sympathy laughs to; hushing Mushu from commenting rudely on them. The amazon river merged into the Nile and when they drove past a troop of gorillas Mushu asked, "Hey where is your man Tarzan at?"

"Oh, he very busy being the protector of the Jungle," Jane reassured, "but if you look just up there you can see our treehouse." She pointed up into the trees and they got a view of the most spectacular treehouse they had ever seen. They admired the craftsmanship until it was out of sight and soon entered a ruins cave.

"What's this?" Carter asked.

"This is the merge from the Nile into the Ganges river. The ancient temple became ruins after a terrible earthquake in 1964," Jane explained, "but it's become quite a sight for our Jungle tours." She turned on the boats light as they entered the darkness and they got glimpses ancient text on the walls and critters leaping out of the lamp light. A sound echoed off the walls throughout the tunnel that made their blood turn to ice. A low, distinguished, growl. Surrounded by darkness with a small lamp as their only light they had no way to locate the source of the growl.

"Oh dear," Jane breathed. A hissing joined the growl and Katherine screamed as she felt something graze her arm.

"What is it?" Ben asked.

"Something slimy just brushed against me!" They could see the light at the end of the tunnel and as it lit up their surroundings they saw what had made Katherine jump. A large python had woven itself around one of the tarp poles and was gazing at them with a mesmerizing stare.

"Don't look! It's Kaa!" Jane blurted grabbing a pipe by her feet and swinging blindly at the snake. The boat jerked harshly causing them to stager.

"Now what?" Mushu looked around hastily.

The growl came again, and they looked at the shadow the vessel casted on the wall to see a silhouette of a tiger on top of their boat.

"We should jump ship!" Mushu said about to spring over board. He scrambled back up into the boat as several fish leaped out of the water snapping their vicious teeth wildly.

"No!" Jane protested, "these waters are inhabited by piranhas!"

The rivercraft emerged fully from the cave and the tiger jumped off the boat, onto a rock then back into the boat this time on the same level as them.

"If that's Kaa then this must be Sheer Kahn..." Jiminy whispered. They were trapped. With Kaa coiled on the back of the boat, piranhas inhabiting the water and Sheer Kahn in the front of the boat they had nowhere to go. Kaa hissed flicking his tongue at them and Sheer Kahn gnashed his teeth making their blood run cold. A yell stopped everyone dead and a blur swooped in, landing ontop of the boat with a thud; then quickly regaining his footing and flipping onto the deck between the group and Sheer Kahn.

"Tarzan!" Jane said with relief. Tarzan held up his spear and lunges at the tiger getting himself into a full-blown wrestling match against the beast. While the tiger was occupied Carter took the pipe from Jane's hands and wailed as hard as he could on the python. In the moment the python was dazed Ben jumped up grabbing the frame of the roof and with all his might kicked the snake off the boat and into the water. The water became a frenzy as Kaa thrashed to get away from the ruthless piranhas. The boat jerked this way and that, as Tarzan fought with Sheer Kahn. The tiger lunged and swiped across Tarzan's chest causing him to bleed and, in the moment, Tarzan was stunned Sheer Kahn made to pounce on the group huddled at the back of the boat. He was jerked backward as Tarzan yanked him by the tail back to the other end of the boat and forced him into a choke hold.

"We need Fire!" Katherine said frantically.

Carter grabbed a blanket from one of the crates and Mushu leaped forward setting it on fire. Tarzan let go and monkey climbed his way onto the roof of the boat, then dropped onto the side of the deck they were all huddled at. Sheer Kahn yowled in pain as Carter threw the fiery blanket at him. He roared and leaped off the boat into the jungle thicket.

"Tarzan," Jane doted on her husband moving him to sit on one of the benches. Tarzan didn't even seem to notice the cut as he asked,

"Jane are you alrighty?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said kissing him.

Katherine quickly pulled out the first aid kit from her bag. Feeling a little awkward Katherine handed the lot to Jane and let her tend to the cut. She then watched the river ahead and wished her face would stop burning from embarrassment of seeing such a chiseled cut man in nothing but a loincloth.

"Is everyone else alright?" Tarzan asked the others.

"Yeah thanks to you!" Ben said enthusiastically. Tinkerbell jingled in approval. Once Jane finished cleaning up Tarzan's wound he stood up and grabbed his spear.

"I'll scout ahead for any more enemies," Tarzan said leaping from the boat. Ben looked at Tinkerbell,

"You go with him Tink," she rang out, "If you would let me finish! I want you to go with him in case there are enemies on the path ahead. If there are I'm sure Tarzan can keep them busy, but we need to know before we walk into their path." She chimed and touched his nose before flitting away. Jane resumed driving as they continued down the river.

"You must be used to him getting into danger like that," Katherine said sympathetically.

"Oh yes, but we can't help but worry about the ones we love regardless of how much we trust they can handle themselves."

"I know the feeling..."

"Your friend?"

"She is my best friend...she is my sister. I know she is smart and resourceful but..."

Jane reached over and touched her arm understandingly.

"When we truly love people we are connected, if something had happened to her you would know it."

Although Katherine was still worried about her sister Jane's words put her at ease.

They arrived at a small doc at noon where Tarzan and Tinkerbell reunited with them. But they weren't the only ones waiting for them on the doc. With them were two men, one an Egyptian man in a white suit and red fez, the other in a leather jacket and a signature wide brimmed fedora.

"Hello my friends!" The large, Egyptian man greeted cheerfully.

They stepped onto the doc and Sallah shook all of their hands jovially, "I am Sallah."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Ben strained to keep his enthusiasm from his voice. The second man shook their hands as well and they all had to resist asking for a picture with the iconic Indiana Jones.

 ** _Chapter 18: The Northern Noble Navigation_**

They didn't know how long they fell fast through the open chasm of soil and roots, but they soon slowed to a speed like one descends in water. Archenemies flew comfortably, Zero whisked down gracefully, and Morph pretended to be plummeting like a bullet. As the three of them floated down the earth around them opened up into brilliant blue sky and for a moment they could see the whole of Wonderland.

They could see animals being spurred on by Mr. Dodo on caucus race beach, running around in circles to get dry; a thing that seemed pointless considering waves kept splashing up onto the beach soaking the whole lot continuously. There was a faint sound of the melodious harmony of the singing flower grove and their eyes were drawn to the festivities and chaos of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. The very last thing they got a glimpse of before descending too low to see the countryside anymore, was the Queen of Hearts castle and most importantly the rose garden. They floated down, down, down before abruptly landing in the front yard of the White Rabbits house.

"Well that was interesting, but a little warning would be nice next time," Ayden began as he regained his footing.

"I didn't see the rabbit hole," William protested defensively as he brushed himself off the bits of dirt and leaves that he had unintentionally picked up when they fell through the hole.

"Naturally," Archimedes said matter of factly, "The part of the enchanted forest we were in had leaves littered all about the forest floor, it's a miracle we found the rabbit hole at all."

Morph made babbling noises and tugged insistently at the bag Raven had full of the upelkuchens treats Mrs. Potts had fixed up for them. Zero barked to get their attention at what Morph was trying to do. Ayden, knowing all to persistent Morph could get in regards to getting food, hastily lunged to the pink blob clamping both hands around him,

"Morph, No! The last thing we need is you drawing attention to ourselves by growing to the size of Godzilla."

"A more accurate monster comparison would be the blob," William said wiping off his glasses.

"I don't think we need him to draw attention to ourselves," Raven said, "in fact having him be a monstrous size might make us look like we actually belong here."

They considered that for a moment and looked back towards the White Rabbit's house. Ayden suggested in an unsure voice,

"It is important that we find the key safety...maybe we should just see if there is anything we can borrow to blend in more?"

"When would be able to return them? It would be stealing and trespassing," William protested.

"I have to agree with Ayden on this one," Archimedes said perching on the white picket fence, "at least if you look like Wonderlandians if you encounter the Queen of Hearts we might be able to fool her that you belong here. The villains know you and the others are looking for the keys. They will be looking for people who don't look like they belong. And we have the advantage knowing where one of the keys are."

"Yeah but..." William began again uncomfortably.

Zero brushed up against him in a comforting manner with part of his ghostly features phasing through his leg. Ayden put a hand on William's shoulder,

"I don't like the idea of stealing or trespassing either, but the others are counting on us. And if I encounter the Queen of Hearts, I would like to have a chance of keeping my head attached." Raven chuckled at Ayden's tone of voice about the matter and when William could see there was no other way he said,

"Shouldn't we at least leave some money as compensation?"

"If that will make you feel better, sure buddy."

They sent Zero inside first, to see if anyone was home, and after a few minutes the ghost dog emerged through the little door barking as if to say 'All clear'. Raven then moved to the door and concentrating hard she took a deep steadying breath and focused on her hand being ghostly. After a minute or so of her hand pressed up against the door handle, her hand went numb. When Ayden and William gasped in amazement, she opened her eyes to see that her hand was indeed phased through the doorknob. She then inhaled again and concentrated on making her hand partially solid just enough, so she could unlock the door, but not so much to where her wrist would be painfully separated from the rest of her arm. Once Raven withdrew her hand from the door they bent down to enter the house.

The ceiling was not very high, and William and Ayden had to bend at the knee to fit, while the top of Raven's head brushed the ceiling, as they stood in the charming little entryway of the White Rabbit's house. To their left was a grandfather clock with a rabbit shaped head at the top, in-front of them stood a table centered with a carrot in a glass dome on top of a white tablecloth which was next to an archway and staircase that led to the rest of the house. Since they could see the archway next to the table led to a tiny kitchen they made their way upstairs to search for anything they could wear to help them blend in more to Wonderland. Upstairs they found a trunk full of clothes to which they rummaged through looking for something that would fit. Ayden found a blue coat adorned with many colorful patches featuring types of tea, while William donned a green pinstriped waistcoat that had a sort of steampunk look to it when accompanied with the bowler hat he chose to pair with it. Raven made their clothes excursion take much longer than it should have as she debated between blouses and stockings of various colors and patterns. She had finally settled on a lavender tutu like skirt and a pink cuffed blouse decorated with flowers. She was holding two different hats each hand and was holding them up to Ayden and glancing in the mirror,

"which one do you think?" she asked, "The pink one with the orange bow? Or the purple plaid one with the feather?"

Ayden and William were sitting on the rug nearby tired of the informal shopping spree. Archimedes had dozed off while perched on top of the vanity mirror and Morph was snoring from inside the pocket of Ayden's jacket. Only Zero seemed to be sitting happily enthralled with whatever Raven wanted.

"I dunno Rae…the pink one," Ayden said with a sigh.

Raven held the pink one to her head and checked the mirror, "Eh…" tossing it aside and placing the purple one on her head she said, "I think I'll go with the purple, the peacock feather matches these stockings."

"Great, now I really think we should-" But Ayden stooped mid-sentence as his stomach lurched with the sound of the door opening downstairs. He and William jumped to their feet alert and this woke Archimedes and Morph who had woke from their stoopers with a start.

They hastily hushed them and strained their ears to listen over their pounding hearts. Although the White Rabbit himself was harmless enough, his loyalties still lied with the Queen of Hearts. They could hear the muttering of the White Rabbit frantically shuffling around in the kitchen below. They knew there was a strong possibility he would come upstairs for something, so they looked around for a place to hide but to no avail.

"Maybe the window?" William suggested striding over to the squared pane and opening it, but a glance down and out made him close it quickly and shake his head, "nope, too high we'd survive but possibly fracture or break something."

"How is that possible? This house is so small?" Raven began.

"Not the time to be questioning logistics in Wonderland," Ayden barked in a hushed whisper. They could hear the Rabbit muttering to himself as he pitter-patter quickly up the stairs,

"Now where did I leave those gloves?" Any moment the White Rabbit would enter his upstairs landing and discover the intruders. There was no time to hide, no time to do anything except,

"Surprise!" Ayden exclaimed in a loud drawn out enthusiastic voice to which Raven and William joined in at the last second; not knowing what he intended but going along with it in traditional improve format. The White Rabbit yelped in a horrified manner and gaped confusedly around at the three people and three characters in his house.

"Wha! What-what- what, what is this? What's going on? Who are you?"

But his confused demands of his intruders were drowned out over the sound of another loud, long drawn out note,

"A..." Ayden began as he gave meaningful looks at Raven and Ayden to join in. They did so and followed her lead in song, "Very merry unbirthday to you!"

To their immense relief the Rabbit responded,

"To me?"

"To you," they continued beginning to dance in a circle around the White Rabbit as they continued to sing, "A very merry unbirthday."

"For me?"

"For you!" They said as they presented him with some gloves that were sitting on the vanity and guided him down the stairs as they sang,

"Now go on back to work my dear and start your day anew! A very merry unbirthday to you!" They drew out the last note as they pushed him on his way out the door shutting it as they watched him thank them and hurry on his way. They slumped against the door and exhaled as Archimedes fluttered to the window,

"He is gone," he said before perching on William's knee as he said to Ayden, "that was quite some improvisational thinking on your part."

"Hey I'm not super good with memorizing lines but improve I-"

"But," Archimedes said cutting him off and crossing his wings to address Raven, "we wouldn't have been caught if you hadn't taken so long to decide what to wear"

"Well if I hadn't then we wouldn't have had a perfect person to follow to the Queen of hearts castle." They stopped for a moment, then springing to their feet they yanked the door open and, scrambling out, they dashed across the lawn, out the gate and down the road desperately trying to catch up to the White Rabbit. Archimedes flew ahead, and they didn't catch up to him until they reached a crossroads with a direction signs pointing them to go "this way, that way, up, down, back, here, and there." They nearly tripped over an odd-looking creature, with the body of a dog and a head and tail of a broom that moseyed on down the path they had just come. It didn't even seem phased when zero glided over and started sniffing it curiously, nor when Morph pretended to be confetti on the path to which the dusting dog just continued to sweep the path. They stopped at the fork, William and Raven leaning against a tree and Ayden bent over with his hands on his knees. Gasping for air they looked around at the sign with unhelpful directions then back to Archimedes hopefully, Raven asked through gasps of breath,

"Archie, did you see where he went?"

"No, I didn't and thanks to that confounded thing," he said with severe annoyance and indicating the small puff of sweep dust that was the broom-like-dog, "we can't even follow the footprints he had left."

Ayden collapsed to the ground and rolled onto his back with a groan and Raven slumped against the tree.

"I don't suppose there is a directory somewhere with actual directions or a map or something?" Ayden rattled off exasperatedly.

"No there isn't," Archimedes sighed.

"How did Alice get to the rose garden?"

"She was shown a shortcut through a random tree by the Cheshire Cat," Raven said, "but who knows if we will come across him."

Ayden looked around with a dejected look on his face, "Anyone else have any ideas?"

Morph shifted into an arrow that pointed into various odd directions while Zero floated to the two paths, sniffing each one in turn before moving to Raven and whimpering as his ears sank. She patted him reassuringly before reassuring him that it was okay and that it wasn't his fault.

"We could go off my memory," William said shrugging. They all looked up at William immediately with confused looks on their faces.

"What do you mean William? You've never been here before," Archimedes began sputtering.

"When we were falling from the rabbit hole, or the sky or whatever it was, we got a clear Birdseye view of all of Wonderland and thanks to my companionship with you I..."

"Your enhanced memory!" Ayden and Raven exclaimed together as they leapt to their feet.

"Yeah!" William said now beaming, "I got a great look at where the Queen of Hearts castle was, and I did see something that looked like a hedge maze which means that the rose garden must be near that somewhere and it actually didn't look that far from where we landed."

"Do you think you can guide us there?" Ayden said looking significantly at William, although he has seen significant proof that their abilities developed here in Fantasmic do indeed work, he knew William could get overwhelmed or distracted easily and they couldn't afford to get lost and waste time.

William looked down and shifted from foot to foot uncertainly, "I-I think so,"

"Would a compass help?" Raven asked as she rummaged through her bag and finally pulled out a small golden compass.

"And you just happened to be carrying that with you?" Ayden said jokingly.

"Shut up! It was in the bag of supplies that Walt sent us with when we left Main Street," she retorted in a half irritated half amused tone.

They then stopped and realized that it seemed so long ago that they had first arrived in Fantasmic and although they had only been there for a few days, so much had happened to where it felt like it has been much longer than it really is. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of their stomachs as they all stared at nothing in particular. Sensing their companions' distress Archimedes, Morph and Zero made to comfort their partners; Zero affectionately licking Raven's hand, Morph cuddling up against Ayden's cheek and Archimedes fluttering over to a nearby branch that sat in front of William and said,

"Come, come now, we are nearly there with finding this next clue."

Shaking the weighing feeling of homesickness, they snapped out of it and refocused and Raven said in a cheerful tone, "Yeah...you're right! Hokay so North, north, north north is...that way!"

She pointed off in the direction the arrow indicated was North and Archimedes hooted in excitement as a look of realization came across his face, "Yes, yes! The compass it can lead us to the castle!"

"Uh, yeah Archie we kinda just established that we were gonna use the compass to help us get there?" Ayden said sardonically.

"No-no-no-no," the owl said as he fluttered over to perch on Raven's knee and pointed a feather-like finger at the compass and recited, "Ahem, North is the direction that a compass will point to guide one to a snowy sheen or a holiday scene, but in Wonderland North always lies with her majesty the Queen."

"What?" Raven and Ayden said.

"It means that North isn't really North here but, North follows wherever the Queen is, its kinda like how in history whoever the king was, his foot size determined the length of a foot, and the distance between his eyes would determine an inch," William clarified.

"So, my good boy," Archimedes turned approvingly to William, "with your memory and the compass I believe that you can lead us to the Queen of Hearts castle and what's more to the hedge maze, where lies the rose garden and furthermore, the hidden key," they looked at William and he then nodded with a nervous confidence, "Then lead the way!"


End file.
